WHO urges broader food taxes to tackle obesity and promote sustainability

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to widen the scope of food taxes to target overall nutritional quality, arguing that broader measures could reduce obesity, improve public health and support environmental sustainability.

In a new policy brief, Food Taxes for a Healthy Diet: Time for Action, the WHO describes fiscal policies as “evidence-based and effective” tools to promote healthier diets. It warns that current taxes are too limited, often targeting a single nutrient such as sugar. Because sugar contributes only a small share of most food prices, companies can reformulate products or consumers can switch brands to avoid higher costs, weakening the impact of such measures.

The organisation proposes using nutrient profile models (NPMs) to design taxes that reflect a food’s full nutritional value. This approach, it says, would be more effective than narrow, single-nutrient levies.

“Modelling studies show that NPM-based food taxes can better curb excess calorie and nutrient intakes, especially when combined with subsidies or tax reductions on healthier products,” the report notes.

The WHO cautions against relying solely on “processed” or “ultra-processed” labels to determine which foods should be taxed, as classification systems such as Nova and Nutri-Score often assess products differently. Instead, it urges policymakers to base taxes on overall nutritional quality, ensuring that fiscal measures align with health and sustainability goals.

Although an increasing number of countries are introducing food taxes, the WHO points out that few explicitly cite health or environmental reasons. Broader, better-designed taxes, it argues, would better align food prices with public health objectives while avoiding unnecessary administrative burdens.

Poor diets remain a leading cause of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide. In the WHO European Region, dietary risks and high body mass index each account for about 11 per cent of disease burdens, and diet-related risks are linked to 18.5 per cent of deaths.

Globally, diet-related deaths from cardiovascular disease rose by 43.8 per cent between 1990 and 2019. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that overweight and obesity cause income losses equivalent to 3.5 per cent of GDP in G20 nations.

Highly processed, energy-dense foods are often cheaper per calorie, while fresh and nutritious foods remain out of reach for many consumers. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet, while the hidden social, health and environmental costs of global food systems equal about 10 per cent of world GDP.

Several countries have already linked food taxation to health goals. Colombia introduced a levy on foods high in salt and saturated fat in 2022, increasing the rate from 10 to 20 per cent this year. Hungary launched a similar public health tax in 2011, while Mexico’s ten per cent tax on “non-essential” foods and sugary drinks led to a five per cent fall in purchases.

The WHO concludes that pairing food taxes with subsidies or tax cuts on healthier items could make nutritious diets more affordable, particularly for low-income households.

“Taxes can encourage manufacturers to reformulate foods and help consumers make healthier choices,” the report says. “They can also raise revenue to fund public health measures and reduce the burden of diet-related disease.”