taz: Ms. Kilian, you are an addiction researcher and were part of the team of experts im Public Health Index has determined that Germany is at the bottom of the league internationally when it comes to alcohol policy and that it inadequately protects the health of the population. What did you examine in the study about alcohol?
Carolin Kilian: We examined the extent to which policies that we know to be particularly effective are being implemented. We compared various European countries – with a focus on Germany.
taz: What did you find out?
Kilian: Germany is a high consumption country with inadequate alcohol policy. It is in the lowest echelons. The implementation of measures in the three central areas of taxation, availability and marketing of alcoholic beverages is particularly deficient. The World Health Organization classifies these measures as particularly cost-effective for reducing alcohol consumption.
taz: Beer is already taxed in Germany. Isn’t that enough?
Kilian: Although Germany imposes alcohol taxes on some drinks, these tax rates are very low. The beer tax in particular is so low that it actually has no influence on the price. This means that the tax is ineffective – and wine is not taxed at all in Germany.
taz: How can this different taxation be explained?
Kilian: The EU began to harmonize alcohol taxation a while ago by setting minimum tax rates for beer, wine and spirits. However, exactly how the tax is calculated varies between countries and depending on the drinks. When it comes to spirits, pure alcohol is taxed. For beer, the tax depends on the alcohol content or the original gravity. With wine, it’s the finished product. The result is a very heterogeneous mixture. Throughout the EU, but also here in Germany.
taz: What do countries with better alcohol policies do differently than Germany?
Kilian: A big difference can be seen in the Scandinavian countries, especially Norway and Finland. All alcoholic drinks are taxed significantly higher there. This makes alcohol more expensive and less affordable. Of course, disposable income is higher, especially in Norway. But measured against income, the price is still significantly higher than here in Germany. But availability is also more limited. In Norway we have an alcohol monopoly. The sale of alcohol is highly regulated. Drinks with an alcohol content higher than 4.7 percent by volume are only available in specialist shops.
taz: What measures are successful in addition to higher taxation?
Kilian: Norway, for example, also does well in the other areas. For example, there is a ban on alcohol marketing there, which does not exist in Germany.
taz: The Health spokeswoman for the CDU has spoken out in favor of a tax on hard alcohol. The Association of General Practitioners welcomes this. What would such a regulation achieve?
Kilian: Taxing spirits makes sense in principle because they are particularly harmful. Spirits are already the highest taxed alcoholic product. But that doesn’t mean that this tax rate couldn’t or shouldn’t be increased further. In any case, tax rates should be adjusted regularly, otherwise they will lose their effect in the face of inflation.
In the interview: Carolin Kilian
is a professor at the Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research at the University of Hamburg. She was part of the team of experts that created the Public Health Index in 2025.
taz: The federal government is also planning a draft law to ban accompanied drinking. Up to now, in Germany, young people aged 14 and over have been allowed to drink alcohol when accompanied by their legal guardians. How do you rate this project?
Kilian: The fact that accompanied drinking exists in Germany is an exception. There is no other country that has such a regulation and it is long overdue to abolish it. The trend is that more and more countries are raising the minimum drinking age for alcohol to a uniform 18 or even 20 years. And here in Germany we are still discussing whether accompanied drinking should be abolished.
taz: As an addiction researcher, what do you hope to achieve from the federal government’s future alcohol policy?
Kilian: I hope that alcohol policy will finally become health-oriented. We can prevent social harm caused by alcohol with sensible policies. And the fact that we are now starting to discuss it is gratifying. But this discussion should not be limited to spirits, but should also extend to beer and wine. Beer and wine are the alcoholic beverages that are consumed the most and are the most normalized in everyday life.