Vietnam currently ranks second among Southeast Asian countries and third in Asia for alcohol consumption per person. (Photo: baovanhoa.vn) The three main criteria affected are average consumption percapita converted to pure alcohol, the rate of alcohol use in both sexes,and use at a harmful level.
Vietnam currently ranks second among Southeast Asian countries andthird in Asia for average alcohol consumption per person.
Nguyen Tuan Lam, an expert from the World Health Organisation(WHO), said that alcohol consumption is increasing rapidly in Vietnam.
According to statistics from the 2018 Global Report, the averagealcohol consumption/adult converted to pure alcohol increased from 3.8litres/person (2005) to 8.3 litres in 2018, 6.4 litres higher than the worldaverage.
Alcohol consumption in litres of pure alcohol per capita (over 15years old) per year in Vietnam is 8.3 litres, equivalent to 170 litres of beerper year.
Dr Tran Quoc Bao, from the Department of Preventive Medicine underthe Ministry of Health, said that the number of alcohol-related deaths wasquite large. Alcohol use has been causing a heavy burden on health, the economyand increasing social problems.
According to the Ministry of Health, Vietnam reports morethan 548,000 deaths yearly from cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental,digestive, infectious and several other diseases. More than 40,800 deaths areestimated to be related to alcohol (accounting for 7.5%).
Alcohol use is also one of the causes of increasing gender andsocio-economic inequalities, challenging efforts to reduce poverty sustainably,according to experts.
According to the 2021 Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Survey,the percentage of Vietnamese men who drink alcohol is very high.
Statistics have shown that in 2021, up to 64% of men and 10% ofwomen have had alcohol in the past 30 days. Notably, drinking at dangerouslevels has increased over the years, especially among men. One in three mendrinks at dangerous levels.
Proposalto increase tax on beer and alcohol
It is estimated that the direct cost of alcohol consumption in Vietnamin 2017 was 4 billion USD, equivalent to 7% of the State budget revenue, whilethe whole industry contributed about 50 trillion VND (equivalent to 2.14billion USD) to the State budget.
“Alcohol tax currently is still low in Vietnam. The proportion oftax on the retail price is only about 30%, while in many countries, the tax onalcohol accounts for about 40 to 85% of the retail price,” said Lam.
“The price of alcohol in Vietnam currently is very cheap,and the purchasing power has increased sharply. One of the reasons is thatthe increase in alcohol prices is much slower than the growth in average incomeper capita yearly,” said Lam.
“If in 1998, to buy 10 litres of local vodka, domestic wine ordomestic white wine, a person had to spend 8.2%; 5.9% and 1.6% ofGDP/person/year. By 2014, the rates were only 2.2%, 1.6%, and 0.4%. Thereduction is similar for beer.
“An increase of 20% in the price of alcohol can reduce alcoholconsumption by 13% (a 10% decrease in beer consumption and 16% in spirits andwine consumption).”
The World Health Organization recommended tax policy as one of themost effective measures to control the harmful effects of alcohol and reducethe burden of disease and death caused by alcohol.
Experts from WHO, Ministry of Health and HealthBridge said that itwas necessary to increase taxes to at least keep purchasing power fromincreasing and to increase taxes sharply to reduce purchasing power, therebyminimising the consequences of alcohol abuse for health the economy and society.
They said that increasing taxes to increase the price of alcoholproducts would bring many benefits to public health, the economy and society.
These benefits include reduced consumption, alcohol-related deathsand illnesses, medical costs, improved work efficiency, reduced socialconsequences of alcohol abuse and increased Government revenue. This is amutually beneficial policy for the Government and the people.
In addition, the Government should also add an absolute tax andswitch to a mixed tax mechanism to limit the weaknesses of proportionaltax, such as transfer pricing and consumption shifting between products.
Research in low- and middle-income countries shows thatrestricting advertising and marketing of alcohol, especially beer, reduces thetotal amount of alcohol drank and average intake, according to Bao./.
VNA
