Pakistan, June 24 -- Pakistan collected a record Rs298 billion (around $1.1 billion) in tobacco taxes in 2024, marking a significant win in reducing tobacco use, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Tobacco Epidemic Report 2025. This achievement followed major tax reforms, including a 28% drop in cigarette production.

The WHO praised Pakistan for tripling cigarette taxes, doubling minimum cigarette prices, and increasing the tax share in retail prices. These steps helped reduce legal cigarette production and raised government revenue, supported by technical cooperation between the Federal Board of Revenue and WHO.

However, despite these gains, the report warned that Pakistan still lags in fully implementing comprehe...