Vaping in 2025 – Progress Stalled, Public Health at Risk

This year’s ASH data release on vaping in Great Britain paints a sobering picture: vaping rates among both adults and children in Great Britain have plateaued, while public misperceptions about the relative harms of vaping and smoking continue to rise. This dangerous combination risks undermining the role vaping can play in reducing smoking, while failing to protect young people from products that should never have been marketed to them in the first place.

Our two fact sheets on youth and adult vaping report findings from the ASH Smokefree GB Adult and Youth Surveys. These are long-standing, nationally representative surveys conducted annually by YouGov. The surveys capture detailed data on smoking and vaping behaviours, attitudes, motivations from 13,000 adults and 3,000 11-18 year olds.. Together, these surveys offer an essential evidence base for public health policy and advocacy, monitoring trends over more than a decade and informing ASH’s work to reduce harm from tobacco and nicotine use.

Youth Vaping: Still Too High, Still Too Easy

The data show that 1 in 5 children aged 11–17 (20%) have tried vaping – a figure unchanged from 2023 – with 7% currently vaping and 3% vaping daily. This equates to 400,000 current youth vapers, including 160,000 daily users.

Despite repeated warnings from ASH and others, marketing tactics – from brightly coloured packaging to sweet flavours and social media promotion – continue to target young people.

The Case for Urgent Legislation

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, introduced in 2024, is now stuck awaiting its committee stage in the House of Lords. This delay is unacceptable. We are in a policy limbo where children remain exposed and smokers are misled.

ASH is calling for immediate action:

• Advance the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to empower regulation of packaging, promotion and sales.
• Ban youth-targeted branding and flavour descriptors.
• Implement a robust public information campaign to promote accurate harm perceptions and encourage smokers to switch.

Reclaiming Vaping as a Quit Aid

As we reflect on the data, the message is clear: we must restore balance. Vaping should be unattractive and inaccessible to children, while remaining available, acceptable and accessible to adults who smoke.

Right now we are stuck in a dangerous limbo... It’s the worst of both worlds.

The UK has led the world on tobacco control before. With political will, we can do so again – protecting young people, supporting smokers to quit, and getting back on track to make smoking obsolete.