WHO warns against vaping, which affects more than 15 million 13- to 15-year-olds worldwide

According to new estimates published by the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 15 million adolescents aged 13 to 15, or 7.2 million of them, use e-cigarettes worldwide.[1]In countries with available data, young people are, on average, nine times more likely to vape than adults. The WHO estimates that there are more than 100 million e-cigarette users, including 86 million adults, or 1.9% of adults, mostly in high-income countries.

A marked increase in vaping among young people worldwide

These figures come against a backdrop of a continued decline in global smoking: the number of tobacco users has fallen from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024.

Faced with tightening anti-smoking regulations and declining tobacco sales, the tobacco industry has defined a new strategy that involves marketing new products alongside traditional tobacco products. At the same time, manufacturers are proposing a new narrative in which they claim to target adult smokers who want to cut down or quit. However, the WHO warns of a new wave of nicotine addiction among young people driven by this strategy. E-cigarettes do not burn tobacco and do not produce tar or carbon monoxide, two of the most harmful components of tobacco smoke, but they do contain nicotine, which is responsible for a very rapid and powerful addiction.[2], having effects on the brain development of young people. Thus, all these new products, which do not have the same characteristics, are not harmless to health.

" E-cigarettes are touted as a harm reduction solution, but in reality they lead to earlier nicotine addiction and undermine decades of public health progress " said Etienne Krug, director of the Department of Social Determinants, Health Promotion and Prevention at WHO.

" We expect that countries will now have to tackle both problems simultaneously: tobacco and e-cigarettes. " said Alison Commar, lead author of the report.[3]. " We see that in every country and region, very young children have access [to e-cigarettes]. No country achieves zero prevalence among children [from 13 years old]. ".

A call for better regulation of electronic cigarettes, which target young people

While many countries have made efforts to introduce regulations on e-cigarettes to combat child vaping, by the end of 2024, 62 countries still had no policy in place and 74 countries had no minimum age for e-cigarettes to purchase, the WHO said.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus commented: “ Governments must act faster and more decisively to implement proven anti-smoking policies. ".

The WHO is therefore calling for stronger enforcement of tobacco control policies, including tax increases and bans on all advertising for tobacco products, but also for the application of such provisions to other nicotine products, if they have not simply banned their marketing, in order to prevent them from undermining the progress made in reducing global smoking.

These WHO recommendations come as the European Commission unveiled in July 2025 a proposal for a thorough revision of the directive governing excise duties on tobacco and nicotine productsBy harmonizing minimum tax rates, integrating new nicotine products (e-liquids, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches, oral tobacco) into the European tax framework and strengthening tools to combat fraud, this reform aims to significantly reduce tobacco consumption, particularly among young people, to reduce inequalities between Member States and to contribute to the objective of a tobacco-free generation by 2040.

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[1]Emma Rumney, WHO estimates at least 15 million teenagers use e-cigarettes worldwide, Reuters, published October 6, 2025, accessed October 7, 2025

[2]Michelle Roberts, Alarming number of people now vape, says WHO, BBC, published 6 October 2025, accessed 7 October 2025

[3]Stephanie Stacey, Vaping fueling a new wave of nicotine addiction, UN agency says, Financial Times, published October 6, 2025, accessed October 7, 2025

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