England: One million current vapers did not smoke regularly
October 6, 2024
Par: National Committee Against Smoking
Dernière mise à jour: October 4, 2024
Temps de lecture: 5 minutes

Rates of e-cigarette use among adults in England (18+) who had never smoked regularly remained stable until 2021, when one in 200 people – around 133,000 people – were vaping. However, this proportion has increased sharply to one in 28 people by 2024, or 1,006,000 people, according to a study published in The Lancet Public Health.[1].
In this monthly, nationally representative cross-sectional survey in England, 153,073 participants (aged ≥18 years) were recruited from July 2016 to April 2024. 94,107 (61.5%) of the 153,073 participants had never smoked regularly. To identify this category of people, respondents were divided according to their consumption profile: those who smoked cigarettes daily – manufactured or rolled – those who smoked manufactured or rolled cigarettes occasionally, those who smoked other tobacco products (e.g. cigarillos, pipes, shisha), those who had quit in the past year and those who had quit more than a year ago, and finally those who reported never having been regular smokers, i.e. they had never smoked for a year or more and who are the focus of the analysis.
An increase driven by the arrival of puffs
Until 2021, e-cigarette users in the country were mainly current or former regular smokers looking to cut down and quit their tobacco consumption. This is no longer the case since the introduction of disposable vapes. The Lancet study conducted by UCL reveals that most people who currently use e-cigarettes and who have never smoked regularly do so daily and over a long period. The trends are similar regardless of gender or occupational category concerned but they differ according to age. Before 2021, the proportion of vapers who had never smoked regularly was low, with an average of 0.5 % between 2016 and 2020. This proportion increased to 3.5 % by April 2024, or just over one million vapers. Of those, more than half (about 588,000) were between the ages of 18 and 24, the study found. Disposable vapes are the most commonly used vaping devices among young people, who are manufacturers’ primary marketing target. The amount of alcohol consumed was also a factor associated with greater frequency.
According to the survey, the devices most commonly used by the latter were disposable devices (50.2%) and the most commonly used nicotine concentrations contained 20 mg/mL or more of nicotine, in 44.6% of cases. During the study period, current vapers who had not been regular smokers were more likely to report vaping daily rather than occasionally. Thus, in April 2024, they were more than four times more likely to report vaping daily rather than occasionally (2.9 % vs 0.6 %); this trend is found in all subgroups (ages, gender, socio-professional category).
Smoking on the decline among young adults
The latest statistics Official smoking data published on 1 October show that smoking rates continue to fall. Overall, the smoking rate is 11.6 per cent, representing 6 million adult smokers in the UK. However, progress has been fastest in the younger age groups, with smoking falling from 25.7 per cent in 2011 to 9.8 per cent in 2023 among 18-24 year olds.
The data comes as the Labour government plans to introduce its version of a plan to phase out tobacco sales to the next generation, so that people born before 2009 will never again be legally sold tobacco.
For Professor Nick Hopkinson, pulmonologist and president of Action on Smoking and Health, "While vaping has helped millions of adults quit smoking, it is not without risk and the high levels of use among young people and increasing use among never smokers are concerning."[2]. He added that the government must pass its Tobacco and Vaping Products Bill as quickly as possible to put in place a strict regulatory framework to control the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes. The Lancet researchers warned that the UK government's proposed ban on disposable vapes is unlikely to solve the problem of young people and non-smokers using them, as some brands have already launched reusable products.
AE
[1] Vaping among adults in England who have never regularly smoked: a population-based study, 2016–24 Jackson, Sarah E et al. The Lancet Public Health, Volume 9, Issue 10, e755 - e765
[2] Press release, New Government smoking figures reveal young adults have seen biggest falls in smoking rates over the last decade, ASH, published October 1, 2024, accessed October 3, 2024
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