A Toolkit on Measuring Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products

The primary purpose of this toolkit is to guide researchers interested in carrying out research on illicit tobacco trade, especially in low- and middle- income countries.

In order to best analyze the true scope and nature of the illicit tobacco trade, the toolkit discusses how to conduct both primary and secondary research on the topic. The toolkit guides researchers through implementing two types of pack examination studies- smoker pack surveys and littered pack collection- in addition to using secondary data to conduct a gap analysis to analyze trends in illicit trade. Several country case studies are presented to serve as examples of successful implementation of the gap model. The toolkit discusses best practices for researchers, from data collection, to econometric methods, to data analysis using Stata.

This toolkit is a part of a series of Tobacconomics publications that aim to improve the understanding of the illicit tobacco trade and the ways in which it relates to tobacco control policies. In addition to this toolkit, a White Paper, Policy Brief, and country Case Study fact sheets (Colombia, United Kingdom, South Africa, the Philippines) illustrate the various measures that governments have taken to curb illicit trade and increase taxes on tobacco at the same time.

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View the recording of the webinar hosted on the toolkit here.