The decrease is due to multifactorial reasons, explained OECD specialists, however it coincides with the beginning of the application of the tax on 10% on sugary drinks, implemented in 2014, to counteract the diabetes epidemic, a disease that remains the second cause of death in Mexicans.
The OECD Health Outlook 2025 revealed that the percentage of the population with diabetes increased from 19% in 2012 to 14% in 2022.
“If we compare a decade ago, Mexico had the highest prevalence of diabetes and this rate has been decreasing in the last four, five years,” said Frederico C. Guanais, deputy director of Health at the OECD, during the presentation of the report.
Nicolás Larrain, health policy analyst at the OECD, assured that the capacity to diagnose and monitor cases and the public policies that have been implemented in the country, such as the stamps for healthy foods or the national strategy to combat obesity, had an effect on the results.
“We know that the improvement in the capacity to diagnose and monitor diabetes in conjunction with public policies are the reasons for the decrease in prevalence in Mexico,” he assured.
Taxes help “bend the curve”
Researcher Nicolás Larrain considered that in Mexico, where the burden of obesity and diabetes is already very high, the taxes imposed on sugary drinks will not solve the situation by themselves but they will help reduce it.
“The new tax adjustments on unhealthy products will not solve the problem on their own, but they can help ‘bend the curve’.”
Nicolás Larrain, health policy analyst at the OECD.
He argued that “healthy taxes” tend to be more effective and socially acceptable when they are part of a comprehensive public health and social protection strategy and that if they are not accompanied by good communication and other prevention policies, “the perception that it is only a collection measure may predominate.”
“International experience also shows conditions under which these taxes can function poorly or have limited effects. If the tax rate is too low, the price change may be insufficient to modify behavior; if many products are exempt, people may substitute other equally unhealthy foods and beverages,” he explained to Political Expansion.
Since 2013, the Government of Mexico – then headed by President Enrique Peña Nieto – presented the National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Overweight, Obesity and Diabetes, with which implemented front labeling of food and beverages; An attempt was made to regulate the advertising and sale of sugary products in schools, as well as the application of the tax since 2014.
According to the article After the implementation of a tax in Mexico, purchases of sugary drinks decreased and water consumption increased published in 2017, the tax had positive results because it reduced consumption.
For its part, a study published in the journal Health Affairs carried out by researchers from the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), found that two years after the tax began to be applied, a reduction of 9.7% was recorded in the purchase of these drinks.
The former general director of the National Institute of Public Health, Juan Rivera Dommarco, agreed that thanks to the 2014 tax, other countries surpass Mexico in the consumption of these products, although it still remains very high. It is estimated that Each Mexican consumes around 166 liters of soft drink per year.
The researcher highlighted in the Politics and Other Data episode Taxes on soft drinks: insufficient for Mexico? It is no longer debatable that if there is evidence of any food that causes harm to health, it is sugary drinks.
The data are so compelling that they admit that they harm health and therefore there must be action by the State to reduce consumption.
Juan Ángel Rivera Dommarco, Health researcher.
