Record Levels of Vaping Reported in Great Britain

A new report from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has found that vaping has reached record levels in Great Britain with an estimated 4.3 million people being active vapers.

The data, shared exclusively with the PA news agency, suggests that 8.3 percent of adults in England, Wales and Scotland vape, according to the Glasgow Evening Times.

Ten years ago the number was 1.7 percent (an estimated 800,000 people).

ASH stated that a “vaping revolution” has taken place over the last decade. Of the 4.3 million current vapers, around 2.4 million are ex-smokers, 1.5 million are current smokers and 350,000 have never smoked a cigarette, according to the report.

The figures also show that the proportion of current e-cigarette users who have never smoked has increased from 4.9 percent last year to 8.1 percent this year. In 2022, 35 percent of current vapers also smoked, according to the report.

The report, based on a YouGov survey of more than 13,000 adults from across Great Britain, found that 28 percent of current smokers had never tried an e-cigarette, with 10 percent of this group saying they were “concerned e-cigarettes are not safe enough.”

A third of adults said they believe that vaping is more, or equally as harmful, as smoking. One in five former smokers said they used a vape to help them quit. However, more than half (56 percent) of current vapers who are ex-smokers said they had been vaping for more than three years.

Vapers reported that the main reason they used e-cigarettes were for quitting smoking, to prevent them from returning to smoking and 14 percent said they used vapes “because they enjoy it.”

Most vapers reported using refillable tank systems but the report points to a rise in disposable e-cigarettes – up from 2.3 percent of vapers using these in 2021 to 15 percent this year. The authors suggested that younger adults are driving the increase in the disposable vapes, with 48 percent of 18 to 24-year-old vapers use a disposable device.

“Over the last decade we’ve seen a vaping revolution take hold,” said Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH. “There are now five times as many vapers as there were in 2012, with millions having used them as part of a quit attempt.

“However, they haven’t worked for everyone. Just under half of smokers who have tried them have stopped using them and 28 percent have never tried one at all. Government has said that a ‘vaping revolution’ will help them meet their ambition for a smoke-free country by 2030 but it won’t be enough – we need a comprehensive plan that will help all smokers.”

Earlier this year a separate report from ASH concluded that the proportion of children vaping is on the rise, with many being influenced by social media sites such as TikTok. While it is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s, the proportion of children aged 11 to 17 currently vaping has jumped from 4 percent in 2020 to 7 percent in 2022.

Ash started its annual survey, Smokefree GB, in 2010.