According to a research, introducing a 15% increase in retail alcohol price per unit, regardless of liquor, would save 133,000 lives per year.

“Alcohol taxes are one of the most cost-effective policies to reduce consumption levels and attributable harm,” experts stressed.

This new tax should be regarded as a sanitary measure, and not a purely economic instrument, specialists pointed out.

Across Europe, alcohol consumption has caused nearly one million deaths per year due to a wide range of causes including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other non-communicable diseases.

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