Israel ranked 10th out of 37 countries in the 2025 Tobacco Control Scale, a European report published by the Smoke Free Partnership, which evaluates tobacco control policies across Europe on metrics including cigarette pricing and taxation, smoking bans in public places, advertising restrictions, health warnings on packaging, smoking cessation programs, age restrictions, and measures to combat illegal trade.
Despite the improved overall ranking, the report identified a significant weakness in Israel’s pricing policy. The report awarded Israel just 11 points for pricing policy, five fewer than in the previous index. Recent tax increases — including a 2024 order raising taxes on cigarettes, rolling tobacco, heated tobacco products, and e-cigarettes — failed to fully preserve the intended deterrent effect because prices did not rise fast enough compared to broader increases in living costs and consumer purchasing power. Pricing accounts for up to 30 of the index’s 100 points, making it the most heavily weighted category.
Israel’s broader performance presented a mixed picture. The country received 8 out of 10 points for smoking cessation support, 15 out of 22 for smoking bans in public places, and 11 out of 13 for advertising and marketing restrictions. However, Israel received no points for raising the legal purchasing age above 18 and none for combating illegal tobacco trade.
On a more positive note, rules signed on June 29, 2025, and set to take effect on August 2, 2026, will require graphic health warnings covering 75% of the main surfaces of all tobacco and nicotine packaging. The report also reflected a broader European trend: for the first time, more countries lost points in the index than gained them, with much of the decline attributed to the erosion of tobacco prices amid inflation and regulatory gaps involving newer smoking products, particularly heated tobacco products. Ireland topped the overall rankings with 80 out of 100 points.
