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More Singaporeans support banning high-sugar drinks than for sugar tax: survey

(Yahoo News Singapore file photo)
(Yahoo News Singapore file photo)

SINGAPORE — More Singaporeans are in favour of a ban on the sale of high-sugar drinks than the implementation of a sugar tax, a survey has found.

Three in five (58 per cent) Singaporeans are in favour of the ban, while only two in five (42 per cent) support a sugar tax, according to findings from a YouGov study released on Friday (12 July).

However, close to half of Singaporeans see the sugar tax as beneficial to Singaporeans. Only a quarter (25 per cent) think of it as detrimental.

Support for the sugar tax is higher among university degree holders (50 per cent) than non-degree holders (35 per cent).

High-income earners (47 per cent) - defined in this survey as those earning more than $8,000 a month - are also found to be more receptive to having a sugar tax, compared with low-income earners (35 per cent) - those earning less than $4,000 per month.

Similarly, higher-income earners (24 per cent) are less likely to think of the sugar tax as detrimental, compared with low-income earners (30 per cent).

A ban on the sale of high-sugar drinks is also more likely to be supported by Singaporeans aged 55 and above (68 per cent).

(SOURCE: YouGov)
(SOURCE: YouGov)

The survey also found that over one in 20 Singaporeans (seven per cent) drink soft drinks daily: one in four do so weekly (26 per cent), one in three monthly (32 per cent) and one in four reported only consuming them on a yearly basis (26 per cent).

Nine per cent of respondents said they do not drink soft drinks at all.

Half (52 per cent) reported seeing themselves drinking lesser should a sugar tax be imposed, and a quarter (23 per cent) said they would stop drinking them entirely.

The remaining one quarter (23 per cent) said they would continue drinking the same amount and one per cent said they will consume more soft drinks.

Sugar was ranked second (18 per cent) in the survey when the respondents were asked to rank six substances in terms of level of addictiveness.

They considered drugs (41 per cent) to be the most addictive. Caffeine came in third place (16 per cent), followed by nicotine (14 per cent), alcohol (6 per cent) and salt (6 per cent).

(SOURCE: YouGov)
(SOURCE: YouGov)

The survey, conducted by YouGov’s Omnibus online research service, polled 1,132 Singaporeans from 25 June to 9 July.

Jake Gammon, Head of Omnibus APAC at YouGov Omnibus, noted that while Singapore may have declared war on diabetes, not all are in favour of the proposed measures to combat the disease.

In December last year, the Ministry of Health and the Health Promotion Board announced that they were seeking public feedback on four possible measures to reduce Singaporeans’ sugar intake.

They are a sugar tax, a ban on such drinks with higher sugar level, tighter rules on related advertisements, and compulsory front-of-pack nutrition labels.

“Whether a ban or a tax, people’s views on sugar are bound to be polarising, especially as it deals with a substance that Singaporeans deem more addictive than nicotine,” said Gammon.

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