Soaring black market

Greece loses €690 million ($781 million) annually in revenues due to illicit tobacco trade, according to The Stella Report.

Illegal cigarette sales in Greece soared to 23.6 percent last year, up 5.6 percentage points from 2017. In the EU the average rate of illegal tobacco represents 8.6 percent of all tobacco consumed.

Taxation makes up 85 percent of the retail price of cigarettes in Greece.

That means that of a €4.50 cigarette pack, €3.85 goes to the state and €0.85 is split between the retailer, the distributor and the tobacco industry.

The Stella Report was carried out by KPMG and commissioned by Philip Morris International.