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HEALTH

Cigarette sales drop to lowest numbers yet

Cigarette sales in Germany are at their lowest level ever though taxes are not taking the hit, new figures released on Monday by the Federal Statistics Bureau showed.

Published: 19 January 2015 08:55 CET
Cigarette sales drop to lowest numbers yet
Photo: DPA

In 2014, 79.5 billion legal cigarettes were sold, Destatis reported, continuing the trend of decline as more Germans butt out.

However, taxes taken from cigarette sales still netted €20.5 billion for government coffers. In 1991, 146.5 billion cigarettes were sold – nearly twice as many as in the last year – but only brought in €15.9 billion in taxes.

And while cigarettes continue to fall, other tobacco sales are finding new followers.

Cigar and cigarillo sales were up by 8.4 percent to 3.9 billion sales. Pipe tobacco also had a good year, with a 13.2 percent rise in sales to make up a total of 1,359 tonnes of the stuff sold.

On January 1, 2014, there was an increase in taxes on cigarettes and fine-cut tobacco. On the first day of 2015, those products saw another increase in the tax rates.

Consumers of pipe tobacco, cigarillos and cigars did not see the same rise in costs.

SEE ALSO: Balcony smoking times can be limited

 

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HEALTH

Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

Denmark's government has struck a deal with four other parties to raise the point in a pregnancy from which a foetus can be aborted from 12 weeks to 18 weeks, in the first big change to Danish abortion law in 50 years.

Published: 3 May 2024 08:06 CEST
Danish parties agree to raise abortion limit to 18 weeks

The government struck the deal with the Socialist Left Party, the Red Green Alliance, the Social Liberal Party and the Alternative party, last week with the formal announcement made on Monday  

“In terms of health, there is no evidence for the current week limit, nor is there anything to suggest that there will be significantly more or later abortions by moving the week limit,” Sophie Løhde, Denmark’s Minister of the Interior and Health, said in a press release announcing the deal.

The move follows the recommendations of Denmark’s Ethics Council, which in September 2023 proposed raising the term limit, pointing out that Denmark had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Western Europe. 

READ ALSO: 

Under the deal, the seven parties, together with the Liberal Alliance and the Conservatives, have also entered into an agreement to replace the five regional abortion bodies with a new national abortion board, which will be based in Aarhus. 

From July 1st, 2025, this new board will be able to grant permission for abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy if there are special considerations to take into account. 

The parties have also agreed to grant 15-17-year-olds the right to have an abortion without parental consent or permission from the abortion board.

Marie Bjerre, Denmark’s minister for Digitalization and Equality, said in the press release that this followed logically from the age of sexual consent, which is 15 years old in Denmark. 

“Choosing whether to have an abortion is a difficult situation, and I hope that young women would get the support of their parents. But if there is disagreement, it must ultimately be the young woman’s own decision whether she wants to be a mother,” she said. 

The bill will be tabled in parliament over the coming year with the changes then coming into force on June 1st, 2025.

The right to free abortion was introduced in Denmark in 1973. 

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