Variation in cigarette price and prevalence of cross-border tobacco purchasing among current cigarette smokers in 27 EU MS, 2012 (n=6896)
| Region/Country | Sample of current cigarette smokers | Cigarette prices (in Euro per 20 cigarettes) and Tax within EU MS | Overall prevalence of cross-border tobacco purchasing within past 12 months | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weighted average price* | Most popular price category† | Total tax (as % of retail selling price for most popular price category)† | Cross-border tobacco purchasing for any reason‡ | Cross-border tobacco purchasing because of cheaper price§ | ||
| n | € | € | Per cent | Per cent (95% CI) | Per cent (95% CI) | |
| Total | 6896 | 3.99¶ | 4.70¶ | 77.7¶ | 26.2 (24.6 to 27.9) | 14.8 (13.4 to 16.2) |
| Western Europe | ||||||
| France | 240 | 5.70 | 6.20 | 79.9 | 41.6 (35.1 to 48.1) | 34.7 (28.3 to 41.0) |
| Belgium | 231 | 4.67 | 5.26 | 76.1 | 37.0 (30.5 to 43.5) | 16.0 (11.0 to 21.0) |
| Austria | 332 | 3.95 | 4.50 | 74.2 | 50.8 (45.1 to 56.4) | 32.2 (26.9 to 37.4) |
| Germany | 374 | 4.86 | 5.26 | 73.0 | 32.9 (26.4 to 39.4) | 28.6 (23.3 to 33.9) |
| The Netherlands | 180 | 5.04 | 5.68 | 72.2 | 50.0 (42.3 to 57.8) | 17.6 (11.5 to 23.8) |
| Luxembourg | 120 | 3.84 | 4.60 | 70.6 | 43.6 (34.2 to 53.0) | 7.7 (3.0 to 12.4) |
| Southern Europe | ||||||
| Greece | 382 | 3.25 | 3.70 | 82.2 | 5.9 (3.4 to 8.5) | 2.4 (0.8 to 4.0) |
| Italy | 245 | 4.28 | 5.00 | 75.2 | 14.0 (9.5 to 18.4) | 4.6 (2.1 to 7.2) |
| Malta | 102 | 4.14 | 4.20 | 76.9 | 27.5 (17.7 to 37.2) | 8.2 (2.0 to 14.3) |
| Portugal | 210 | 3.73 | 4.20 | 76.0 | 9.3 (5.2 to 13.4) | 2.0 (0.1 to 3.9) |
| Slovenia | 264 | 2.86 | 3.40 | 80.1 | 33.3 (27.4 to 39.2) | 6.0 (3.0 to 8.9) |
| Spain | 302 | 3.76 | 4.50 | 79.3 | 11.7 (8.1 to 15.3) | 2.0 (0.4 to 3.6) |
| Cyprus | 141 | 3.82 | 4.55 | 75.9 | 24.9 (17.7 to 32.0) | 5.8 (1.9 to 9.6) |
| Northern Europe | ||||||
| Denmark | 236 | 5.26 | 5.38 | 79.3 | 53.4 (46.8 to 59.9) | 19.8 (14.6 to 25.1) |
| Ireland | 270 | 8.47 | 9.10 | 79.0 | 35.9 (30.0 to 41.9) | 24.4 (19.0 to 29.8) |
| UK | 283 | 6.98 | 10.59 | 80.1 | 32.9 (26.4 to 39.4) | 22.6 (16.8 to 28.3) |
| Latvia | 364 | 2.36 | 3.16 | 79.1 | 21.2 (16.9 to 25.4) | 6.4 (3.9 to 9.0) |
| Lithuania | 305 | 2.25 | 2.75 | 75.3 | 16.4 (12.1 to 20.7) | 5.0 (2.4 to 7.7) |
| Finland | 186 | 4.50 | 5.40 | 79.9 | 41.2 (32.7 to 49.7) | 31.0 (23.0 to 39.0) |
| Sweden | 119 | 5.11 | 6.34 | 73.8 | 55.0 (44.7 to 65.4) | 24.2 (16.2 to 32.2) |
| Estonia | 242 | 2.43 | 3.10 | 76.9 | 30.6 (24.5 to 36.8) | 10.0 (6.2 to 13.8) |
| Eastern Europe | ||||||
| Czech Republic | 281 | 2.73 | 3.41 | 77.6 | 20.9 (15.9 to 25.9) | 10.8 (7.1 to 14.5) |
| Hungary | 302 | 2.44 | 2.98 | 83.7 | 9.7 (6.3 to 13.1) | 2.7 (0.8 to 4.6) |
| Poland | 295 | 2.28 | 3.07 | 79.6 | 9.9 (6.2 to 13.5) | ** |
| Slovakia | 222 | 2.72 | 2.63 | 83.9 | 29.2 (22.9 to 35.5) | 10.9 (6.7 to 15.2) |
| Bulgaria | 359 | 2.20 | 2.56 | 83.6 | 12.8 (9.1 to 16.5) | 4.1 (2.0 to 6.3) |
| Romania | 309 | 2.60 | 2.79 | 73.2 | 18.6 (14.2 to 23.0) | 6.3 (3.6 to 9.0) |
The denominator for overall prevalence of cross-border purchasing was all current cigarette smokers (n=6896).
*Weighted average price as of 1 July 2012 obtained from the European Commission.
†Most popular price category cigarette prices and total taxes (including specific, ad valorem and Value Added Tax) as of July 2012 obtained from the WHO database.
‡Include tobacco purchases made from other countries within and outside the EU for any reason, including: “the product is forbidden in (OUR COUNTRY)”; “The price of this product was cheaper than in (OUR COUNTRY)”; or “You were in another country and needed tobacco products.”
§Include tobacco purchases made from other countries within and outside the EU because “The price of this product was cheaper than in (OUR COUNTRY).”
¶Arithmetic mean of all 27 EU MS.
**Estimate not presented because relative SE ≥50%.
EU, European Union; MS, Member States.