In a historic public health milestone, daily vaping among adults has officially overtaken daily smoking in Great Britain. According to the latest data released by the public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), an estimated 5.5 million adults (10% of the population) now vape. Concurrently, the proportion of daily smokers has plummeted to 6.6%, down from 9.7% in 2020, while daily vaping has climbed to 7.8% over the same period.
The findings underscore the pivotal role that e-cigarettes play in tobacco harm reduction. Approximately 3.3 million current vapers—representing 60% of the vaping population – are ex-smokers. Furthermore, more than half (58%) of Britons who successfully quit smoking in the last five years credit vaping as their primary cessation tool, translating to roughly 2.5 million successful quitters.
Crucially, the data debates the concern of long-term nicotine dependency; vaping is not proving to be a permanent replacement for most. Nearly a third (32%) of ex-smokers who used e-cigarettes to quit smoking within the last five years have since successfully quit vaping as well.
Despite these adult cessation successes, ASH warns that youth uptake remains unsustainably high. Approximately 1.1 million children aged 11 to 17 (19%) have tried vaping, with 370,000 (6%) currently vaping. While youth vaping rates stabilized over the past year, exposure to vape marketing remains rampant. Three-quarters (75%) of young people report regularly seeing vape promotions, primarily in retail stores (50%) and online platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram (29%).
In response, ASH is urging the UK government to swiftly utilize its powers under the Tobacco and Vapes Act to restrict youth-targeted promotions. However, the charity cautions that new regulations must remain proportionate.
“The task now is to get the balance right,” said Hazel Cheeseman, Chief Executive of ASH. “Make vaping less visible and less appealing to children while ensuring it remains an effective and accessible quitting aid for adults who smoke. If we get that balance wrong, we risk slowing progress on reducing smoking, which remains the leading cause of preventable death.”
