In South Korea, decline in traditional smoking slowed by heated tobacco and new nicotine products

The proportion of men in their 20s and 30s who smoke cigarettes declined sharply between 2015 and 2024, according to a report by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). In 2024, 28.5 percent of men in their 30s and 22.6 percent of men aged 19 to 29 were smokers, down 19.5 and 16.1 percentage points, respectively, from 2015, the largest declines among all age groups.[1]However, other tobacco, vaping and nicotine products are halting this decline and represent a lucrative market for the tobacco and nicotine industry.

Cigarette consumption is declining, but consumption of "alternatives" such as heated tobacco is increasing

Although declining, the proportion of combustible cigarette smokers among men in their forties remained very high (36.9 %), compared to 45.8 % in 2015. Among men in their fifties, 34.1 % still smoked, a slight decrease of 2.4 points. However, the trend is unfavorable among men in their sixties, with an increase in prevalence from 26.1 % to 26.4 %. On the other hand, it decreased from 17 % to 13.5 % among men aged 70 and over.

While traditional smoking is declining, total consumption of nicotine products, including vaping products but also heated tobacco, is decreasing more slowly, or even increasing due to the upward trend in the consumption of these products. In 2024, 40% of thirty-year-olds reported using at least one nicotine product, a decline of only 4.9 points since 2019, much less than the 10.7-point decline observed for combustible cigarettes alone.

A similar trend appears among younger people: between 2019 and 2024, cigarette use fell by 15.2 points, but overall use of nicotine products only fell by 10.5 points among men aged 19 to 29. Among those in their forties, the highest consumption age group, the proportion of nicotine product users even increased by 1.6%, despite a slight decline in traditional smoking.

In 2024, Philip Morris International (PMI) reported that its market share for heated tobacco products in South Korea reached 8.1 %, up from 7.1 % in 2023. The Korean Ministry of Finance reported in the first half of 2023 that the share of heated tobacco sales in total cigarette sales increased to 16.5 %, up from 14.8 % a year earlier.

Heated tobacco wrongly perceived as a healthy alternative and amalgamated with vaping products

South Korea has only been recording the use of all nicotine products since 2019, a period marked by the rise of vaping and heated tobacco, which are amalgamated in South Korean everyday and administrative language as two subcategories of the larger group "e-cigarettes", even if they are treated differently from a tax and health perspective.

A widespread belief, particularly among young people, is that all "alternative" nicotine products are less harmful than combustible cigarettes, when in reality this is only the case for e-cigarettes, provided that smoking is completely stopped. A survey conducted in September among primary, middle, and high school students indicated that 32.2% of them considered e-cigarettes to be less dangerous, or even harmless.

In addition, for several years, so-called “nicotine-like” products such as 6-methyl-nicotine and nicotinamide, due to the addition of nicotine analogues, have appeared in several countries including South Korea. Analogues are not considered nicotine products and are beyond control, which some companies present as a commercial advantage. Health experts believe that these products raise public health issues that are still poorly assessed, particularly due to their addictive potential and the lack of data on their medium- and long-term effects.

While attitudes are still evolving regarding new nicotine products, Korean civil society is nevertheless beginning to raise awareness about the tobacco industry's actions and its cost to public health. From March to June 2025, the South Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) filed a complaint with the Court of Appeal. a petition signed by more than 1.5 million people, in its lawsuit against three tobacco manufacturers, KT&G, Philip Morris Korea and BAT Korea, pointing in particular to the companies' lack of recognition of the impact of tobacco on lung cancer.

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[1]Yoon Min-sik, Cigarette use drops drastically since 2015: study, The Korea Herald, published October 11, 2025, accessed October 13, 2025

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