Is it true that a million people who have never smoked now vape?

Recent headlines have highlighted new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggesting that more than a million people who have never smoked are now vaping. It's an alarming statistic, but does it really mean what it appears to?

The short answer is that this is not what this survey found.

The ONS definition of a 'never smoker' is not what most people would understand by the term.

The latest ONS statistics on adult smoking habits draw on two surveys: the Annual Population Survey (APS), which provides the headline smoking prevalence figures, and the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN), which provides information on vaping.

The OPN estimates that 1.1 million people classified as 'never smokers' were vaping daily or occasionally in 2025, up from around 940,000 in 2024.

But here's the important detail. The survey classifies people according to whether they have ever smoked cigarettes regularly, not whether they have ever smoked at all.

Someone who smoked cigarettes occasionally, perhaps socially at weekends, but never considered themselves a regular smoker, or a young person who has tried cigarettes a few times, or someone who regularly smokes tobacco not in cigarettes but through shisha or cigarillos, could therefore be counted as a 'never smoker'. 

This is not a mistake in the ONS data. It's a longstanding definition which has had its criticisms, but has not changed. However, the definition was not clearly presented in the initial ONS publication and therefore journalists have understandably misunderstood the data.

Not at all. ASH data (which classes people as never smokers if they say they have never smoked tobacco products) indicates that, although vaping among never smokers may have peaked, around 400,000 people who have never smoked currently vape, representing around 8% of all current vapers. This is a legitimate public health concern. Vaping is not risk-free and people who do not smoke should not start vaping.

Even if the trend is declining, this is not a reason for complacency. Regulation to address the drivers of vaping among never smokers is urgently needed. A study by University College London reported in the BMJ found a substantial increase in vaping among people who had never smoked regularly, particularly younger adults, between 2016 and 2024. 

The UK has made extraordinary progress in reducing smoking. The same ONS release shows that smoking prevalence has fallen below 10% for the first time, to 9.8% in 2025. This is a major public health achievement which deserves at least as much attention as the vaping figures.

We should be concerned about vaping among people who would otherwise never smoke, particularly young people. But we should also recognise the important role vaping plays in helping people quit smoking, and the potential for vaping to displace cigarette use.

The government's task is to make vaping less attractive and accessible to children and non-smokers, while ensuring it remains available as a less harmful alternative for adults who smoke.

Good policy starts with understanding what the data actually tells us. A million 'never smokers' vaping makes a striking headline, but accuracy matters as the UK seeks to strike a careful balance in how we regulate these complex products.