Britain's surge in vaping appears to be at an end as youngsters ditch disposable e-cigarettes

The surge in Brits taking up vaping appears to have stopped.

A Cancer Research UK-funded review also found the Government action to ban disposable vapes targeted at youngsters has seen numbers using them almost half. It suggests the rapid rise of vaping since 2021 when disposable e-cigarettes became popular appears to have stalled.

Researchers from University College London looked at survey data on vaping habits in England, Wales and before and after the UK Government announced plans to restrict vaping, including by banning disposable vapes in January 2024. The research team found that the proportion of people vaping increased by nearly a quarter each year from 2022 to 2024 but stayed constant between January 2024 and January this year, including for young people.

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Caroline Cerny, deputy chief executive of public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said: "This data indicates that the Government's action on vaping is starting to shift both business practices and consumer behaviour. That's a positive sign and shows that the planned regulations have potential to tackle the trend in youth vaping. At the same time, it's important to strike the right balance: protecting young people while still supporting adults to stop smoking."

Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson, of UCL, said: “Action is likely still required to reduce high vaping rates, but now that the situation has stabilised, policymakers may be reassured that it would be sensible to avoid stricter policy options currently under review. Some of the options being considered may be more likely to have the unintended consequence of deterring smokers from using vapes to quit smoking.”

Earlier this year the Government launched a landmark review into the long term harms of vaping. It commissioned research to monitor health effects of the devices in a ten-year study of 100,000 young people aged eight to 18. It follows reports of conditions such as “vape tongue” and some instances of lung damage in heavy vapers.

The is still promoting e-cigarettes as a quitting tool but there are growing concerns about youngsters who have never smoked taking up vaping.

Prof Caitlin Notley, of Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia, said:“It is good news that vaping prevalence overall has stabilised while we continue to see a decline in population level tobacco smoking. As many people vaping will be ex-smokers, this suggests that we may be seeing a levelling off of vaping by people who have never smoked. This is clearly an important trend to monitor, as the public health goal is to encourage people away from harmful tobacco smoking, by vaping if it is helpful, but to also to discourage people who have never smoked from taking up vaping.”

The percentage results are taken from survey data collected monthly between January 2022 and January 2025 as part of the Smoking Toolkit Study, which is a representative household survey in Great Britain. The numbers polled were 88,611 people aged over 16. A subset of this group of 9,276 were "young adults" aged 16 to 24.

The review by UCL, published in the journal Addiction, from January 2024 onwards identified a substantial decline in the proportion of vapers mainly using disposable e-cigarettes. Among young adults the proportion using disposables almost halved, from 63% to 35%.

The UK Government announced plans to ban disposable vapes in January 2024. This ban will come into force on 1 June this year. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, currently working its way through Parliament, includes powers to potentially restrict the packaging, marketing and flavours of vapes.

The analysis found that between January 2022 and January 2024 vaping rates among adults increased from 8.9% to 13.5%, with rates among young adults rising from 17% to 26.5%. The academics said: "After the new policy measures were announced in January 2024, trends in current vaping prevalence changed. Among both adults and young adults, prevalence was no longer increasing and instead remained relatively stable."

Dr Jackson added: “Our results also suggest that the Government’s ban on disposables, coming into force in June, may have limited impact on vaping rates in general, given that vapers are already moving away from disposable vapes. It seems likely that people using these products will move to re-usable versions rather than stop vaping completely.

“The study highlights the value of up-to-date information about vaping and smoking trends, which allow policies to be based on the best possible evidence. The research cannot tell us why vaping rates have levelled off, but we have in the past seen changes in smoking habits before a policy change, with people adapting their behaviour in anticipation of a new policy.”