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- World Updates | Pakistan Tax Relief | Sanitary Pads & Contraceptives Tax Removed | International News
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The Pakistan government is preparing to abolish the 18% sales tax on sanitary pads and contraceptive products. In the budget presented last week, the government had proposed to remove the tax.
Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said that sanitary products are very important for women’s health, dignity and their participation in social life. He cited the rapidly increasing population of the country as the reason behind this. He said that Pakistan is the fifth largest country in the world in terms of population and family planning is one of the priorities of the government.
According to UNICEF, only 12% of women and girls in Pakistan use sanitary products available in the market. The rest of the women resort to cloth or other home-made alternatives.
According to UNICEF, after adding local and other taxes, women in Pakistan have to pay about 40% additional tax to buy sanitary products. Its biggest impact falls on poor and weaker section women.
According to World Bank data, by mid-2025, about 45% of Pakistan’s population was living below the lower-middle income poverty line with an income of $4.20 (about 1,175 Pakistani rupees) per day. At the same time, the price of 10 sanitary pads available in a packet is more than one-third of the average daily earnings. In many cases, one packet is not even enough for the entire month.
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