UK Vaping Outpaces Smoking Again: 5.4M Adults Now Use E-Cigs
About 5.4 million adults aged 16 and over in Great Britain, or 9.9% of the population, vaped daily or occasionally in 2025, the ONS said. Current smokers made up 8.7% of adults, or roughly 4.8 million people. Vaping first overtook smoking in 2024.
Vaping's overall reach has barely moved in the past year. The ONS recorded 5.4 million users, or 10.0% of adults, in 2024. Over the longer term, though, the rise is steep: the share of adults using e-cigarettes has climbed from 6.4% in 2020.
Adults aged 25 to 34 were the heaviest users, with 16.4% vaping daily or occasionally.
Smoking, meanwhile, kept falling. About 4.9 million people aged 18 and over in the UK, or around 9.8%, smoked in 2025, down from 10.6% in 2024. Since the ONS began its time series in 2011, when 20.2% of adults smoked, the rate has dropped by 10.4 percentage points.
Smoking was most common among 45- to 54-year-olds, at 12.4%.
The steepest fall since 2011 came among 18- to 24-year-olds. Their smoking rate plunged 18.5 percentage points, from 25.7% in 2011 to 7.2% in 2025.
The data point to a continuing shift in how people use nicotine: cigarettes are in retreat while vaping becomes more common. The ONS put current e-cigarette use at 9.9% of adults in 2025, against 8.7% for current smoking.
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