Confirmed: Vaping’s leading role in driving down UK’s smoking rates

Compelling new evidence from the UK’s leading voice on tobacco control shows e-cigarettes are playing an increasingly central role in the battle to reduce smoking.

The official survey data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Great Britain reveals:

• 4.8 million Britons have used vapes to quit smoking
• 60% of vapers are former smokers, while 32% are dual users
• Fewer than one in 10 vapers have no history of smoking

ASH, which was established in 1971 by the Royal College of Physicians to eliminate the harm caused by tobacco, found that the number of adults smoking daily in GB has fallen by 32% since 2020 to just 6.6% – just above the official smoke-free threshold of 5%.

Over the same period, vaping has continued to establish itself as a mainstream quitting tool: 27% of adults who used to smoke say they used a vape to help them quit smoking and more than half of that group made the switch within the last five years.

“The ASH survey confirms something Sweden has demonstrated for years,” said Dr Delon Human, leader of Smoke Free Sweden. “When smokers have access to attractive, lower-risk alternatives, millions choose to leave cigarettes behind. That is exactly what public health should aim to achieve.

“The figures also expose a persistent myth. Vaping is overwhelmingly being used by people with a history of smoking, not by people who have never smoked. Policymakers should be encouraging smokers to switch to safer smoke-free alternatives instead of creating barriers that keep them tied to cigarettes.”

The survey found that 60% of current vapers are former smokers and a further 32% both smoke and vape. Fewer than one in 10 vapers have never smoked regularly.

Among smokers who also vape, cigarette consumption has fallen substantially. Dual users smoke an average of 6.5 cigarettes a day compared with 9.1 cigarettes among smokers who do not vape, suggesting many are reducing their cigarette intake before quitting altogether.

Flavours remain an important factor in helping smokers stay away from cigarettes. Six in 10 vapers prefer fruit flavours, while only 9% choose tobacco flavour.

“These findings show that sensible regulation works,” Dr Human said. “The UK has combined strong youth protections with continued access for adult smokers. That is a far better approach than blanket bans, which remove options from smokers while doing little to stop youth experimentation.”

Despite the encouraging trends, the survey found misinformation remains a major obstacle. More than half of adults in Great Britain, including 52% of smokers, wrongly believe vaping is as harmful as or more harmful than smoking.

“Millions of smokers are still being held back by false beliefs about the relative risks of nicotine products,” said Dr Human, a former secretary-general of the World Medical Association. “Every smoker who wrongly concludes that vaping is no better than smoking is more likely to continue using the product that kills up to two out of three long-term users.”

The UK’s experience increasingly mirrors Sweden’s own success. Sweden’s progress towards official smoke-free status has been driven by its embrace of a range of safer nicotine alternatives, including snus and nicotine pouches. It now records the lowest smoking rate and the lowest tobacco-related disease burden in Europe.

“The evidence from Sweden and the UK shows that countries that make safer nicotine alternatives available alongside sensible regulation reduce smoking faster and save more lives,” Dr Human said. “Governments that restrict or ban these products risk slowing progress and condemning millions more people to continue smoking.”

-ends-