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CISDI Logo: Symbolizing the collaboration of three strategic pillars—research, advocacy, and capacity building—to advance Indonesian healthcare.

Make Cigarettes Unaffordable! Save 268,000 Lives Every Year

Weak tobacco tax policies force many Indonesian households to spend a large portion of their income on cigarettes. Children suffer from malnutrition, stunting rates remain high, and 268,000 lives are lost every year. Cigarettes may be cheap, but the impact is extremely costly for all of us.

Let's get involved

Rp. 19.000

Can buy a pack of cigarettes, instead of rice and side dishes

Rp. 265.681

Per month spent on cigarettes in poor Indonesian households

5,9 MILLION

Indonesian children (10-18 years old) have started smoking

Sumber foto: Rifqi Raihan Firdaus, Peserta Lokakarya Foto & Video: Kita Berhak Sehat CISDI

#RaiseCigarettePricesLowerFoodCosts

Why Cigarettes Must be Expensive?

  • 70 million Indonesians are addicted to smoking. (Indonesian Health Survey, 2023)

  • Cigarettes are the second largest household expenditure after rice. (CISDI, 2023)

  • Cigarettes are not basic needs, but harmful products, the money could be better spent on more important things.

  • High prices are effective in helping people quit: 74% of smokers would stop if the price reached Rp70,000 per pack. (PKJS-UI, 2018)

6 out of 10

men in Indonesia are smokers.

Indonesian Health Survey, 2023

8 out of 10

People smoke indoors, leaving children potentially exposed to cigarette smoke.

Indonesian Health Survey, 2023

Rp. 410 Trillion

The total annual economic burden due to cigarette consumption is twice the amount of excise tax revenue.

CISDI, 2022

Taxes to Tackle the Tobacco Epidemic

The 2020 WHO simulation shows that if Indonesia increases the tariff by 10-11% and reduces the number of cigarette layers to 5 by 2022, it could reduce the number of smokers by 2.4 million, prevent more than 0.5 million deaths, and increase the state's total revenue from taxes by Rp. 191,4 trillion.

If tobacco exciseincreases 30%then

Reduce Cigarettes Consumption::

Kretek Cigarettes
20,62%
White Cigarettes
14,24%
If tobacco exciseincreases 45%then

Reduce Cigarettes Consumption::

Kretek Cigarettes
27,74%
White Cigarettes
19,50%
CISDI. (2021). The macroeconomic impacts of tobacco taxation in Indonesia. Jakarta

Time to Act!

Join us in pushing the government to reform tobacco tax policy by:

  • Significantly increase cigarette tax rates (by at least 25%) for 2026 and annually thereafter.
  • Simplify the tax structure to reduce cigarette price variations.
  • Increase the Retail Selling Price to ensure higher cigarette prices on the market, making cigarettes less affordable.
  • Harmonise the tax rates for conventional cigarettes and electronic cigarettes to prevent a switch in consumption.