Youth vaping: the facts

• Vapes (or e-cigarettes) are not risk free and should not be used by children or non-smokers. However, they play an important role in helping adult smokers quit.
• Youth vaping rates have levelled off – after rising sharply between 2021 and 2023, likely driven by the emergence of cheap, disposable vapes and youth-focused marketing. Around 7% of 11–17-year-olds say they currently vape and 18% have tried vaping.
• Action is urgently needed to make vapes less appealing and accessible to young people. It is illegal to sell nicotine-containing vapes to under-18s and new laws will restrict marketing, promotion and where vapes can be sold.

For information about the role of vapes for smoking cessation among adults, see the ASH webpage: Vaping: what you need to know.

• What are vapes?
• How many young people currently vape?
• What are the risks from youth vaping?
• What is ASH calling for?
• What is the government doing about youth vaping?
• Resources and publications

Vapes (also known as electronic or e-cigarettes) allow users to inhale nicotine through an aerosol commonly referred to as vapour, rather than smoke.

They work by heating a solution known as an e-liquid that typically contains nicotine, flavourings, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine (the base liquids that carry nicotine and flavourings and create the vapour when heated).

Although vapes contain nicotine – which can be addictive – they don’t contain or burn tobacco and don’t produce the most harmful chemicals in tobacco smoke, like tar and carbon monoxide. While they are not risk free, they are significantly less harmful than smoking and are effective for helping adults who smoke to quit.

As of 2024, 18% of 11–17-year-olds in Great Britain have tried vaping.

7.2% of 11–17-year-olds currently vape. This is made up of 4.2% who vape regularly (more than once a week) and 3% who vape occasionally (less than once a week).

Vaping is more common among older children. 4.6% of 11–15-year-olds currently vape, compared to 14% of 16–17-year-olds.

Youth vaping rates have stabilised after increasing sharply between 2021 and 2023. This increase was likely driven by the emergence of cheap, disposable vapes which are heavily marketed towards young people.

These findings are from the annual ASH/YouGov survey of vaping behaviour among 11–17-year-olds in Great Britain. The full survey findings are available in the ASH fact sheet: Use of vapes (e-cigarettes) among young people in Great Britain. 2024.

Vaping poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking in the short and medium term. Evidence shows that people who vape are exposed to significantly lower levels of harmful substances linked to cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular conditions than people who smoke. However, vaping is unlikely to be risk-free, particularly over the long term – though the risks are likely to be far lower than for smoking.

Evidence on the impact of vaping on child health is still emerging. Short-term effects can include coughing, headaches, dizziness and sore throats. Research is currently underway to investigate the long term effects.

Most vapes contain nicotine which is addictive. Nicotine dependency can make people feel stressed, restless, irritable and unable to concentrate.

There have been several national media reports of unregulated illegal vapes being used in secondary schools. When tested, some of these vapes contained heavy metals such as lead, chromium and nickel which are harmful to health. These substances are either not present or are present at very low levels in legal vaping products. They are present at much higher levels in smoked tobacco.

Concerns have been raised about the potential for vaping to act as a gateway to smoking for young people. This is not supported by population-level data in the UK. If vaping was leading young people into smoking, you would expect to see an increase in youth smoking as more young people took up vaping. In reality, rates of youth smoking have continued to decline as youth vaping has increased. Vaping could be a gateway into smoking for some individuals (although for others vaping could be a gateway out of smoking) but, so far, this is not the case at population level.

ASH is calling for action to tackle youth vaping while ensuring that vapes continue to be available to adults for smoking cessation. This means restricting the affordability, appeal, accessibility and marketing of vapes to children. Specific ASH recommendations include:

• Putting vapes out of sight and out of reach of children by prohibiting promotion of vapes in shops and increasing controls over where they can be sold.
• Putting vapes in plain packaging to make them less appealing to children, prohibiting sweet names, bright colours, and cartoon characters.
• Regulating vape flavours to remove flavour descriptors which are appealing to children such as ‘gummy bears’ and ‘unicorn shake’.
• Increasing the price of vapes to make them less affordable to children while ensuring they remain cheaper than smoking.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill includes a series of measures to tackle youth vaping. This includes:

• Restricting vape flavours, packaging and promotion in shops.
• Introducing a retail licencing scheme for shops selling vapes.
• Banning vape advertising and sponsorship.
• Banning vape vending machines.

This is alongside the ban on disposable (single-use) vapes in June 2025 and a new tax on vape liquid in October 2026. Collectively, these measures should be effective for reducing the number of young people who vape. It will be important to continue monitoring youth vaping rates to ensure the regulations can be strengthened if needed.

• Sheffield City Council resources for schools on youth vaping. These were developed in collaboration with ASH to help make children and young people aware of the facts about vaping.
• ASH factsheet. Use of vapes (e-cigarettes) among young people in Great Britain. July 2024.
• ASH written evidence to the Tobacco and Vapes Bill public bill committee. January 2025.
• ASH response to the government call for evidence on youth vaping. June 2023.