Pricele #117: Cigarettes (20-pack) in Peru 🇵🇪
The puzzle for 25 October 2026 asked what a pack of 20 cigarettes costs in Peru. Here is the answer and the context behind it.
The answer
Cigarettes (20-pack) · Peru
$4.38
16.3 PEN
About 79 minutes of the average local wage buys a pack of 20 cigarettes.
Cheaper than 55% of the 61 countries in the game.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory, tobacco tax survey 2024 (most sold brand).
About cigarettes
No other item in the game is this deliberately priced. Tobacco taxes are set to make cigarettes unaffordable, and the WHO tracks the result precisely because it is a policy instrument rather than a market outcome. Australia's pack costs more than thirty times Lebanon's, and the same manufacturers sell in both.
Where Peru sits
Of the 61 countries priced for cigarettes, Peru ranks #34 from the top at $4.38, 12% below the median of $4.98.
Peru is a mining exporter with one of the steadier currencies in Latin America, which makes its dollar figures more durable than Argentina's or Colombia's. Domestic food is cheap and largely home-grown, and Lima's much-praised restaurant scene is invisible in national averages. The IGV runs at 18% and applies broadly, so the consumption-tax wedge on ordinary purchases is higher than in Mexico, where food is zero-rated. Pump prices are close to unsubsidised, which puts Peruvian fuel above its Andean neighbours and roughly at world levels.
| Nearby on the cigarettes table | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | $3.94600 JPY | 600 JPY | 15 min |
| Mexico | $4.2879.98 MXN | 79.98 MXN | 64 min |
| Peru | $4.3816.3 PEN | 16.3 PEN | 79 min |
| Costa Rica | $4.582,400 CRC | 2,400 CRC | 43 min |
| Poland | $4.9119.5 PLN | 19.5 PLN | 37 min |
What else costs what in Peru
| Item | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mac | $5.0316.9 PEN | 16.9 PEN | 1.5 h |
| Gasoline (1 litre) | $1.695.78 PEN | 5.78 PEN | 31 min |
| Diesel (1 litre) | $1.806.04 PEN | 6.04 PEN | 33 min |
| Electricity (100 kWh) | $19.1064.3 PEN | 64.3 PEN | 5.8 h |
| Beer (330ml) | $1.003.71 PEN | 3.71 PEN | 18 min |
| Spirits (750ml bottle) | $6.0322.43 PEN | 22.43 PEN | 1.8 h |
| Vape e-liquid (1 ml) | $0.271 PEN | 1 PEN | 5 min |
| Mobile data (1 GB) | $0.45 | — | 8 min |
| A day's healthy diet | $2.408.57 PEN | 8.57 PEN | 44 min |
Go deeper
See the full table for cigarettes in every country or everything priced in Peru.