The number of people who vape has reached an all time high, according to a new report.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that an estimated 4.3million people across Scotland, England and Wales are 'active vapers'. The report suggests that 8.3 per cent of adults in across Great Britain vape.
This is a 1.7 per cent jump from 10 years ago, an equivalent of around 800,000 people. Of those who vape, 2.4 million are ex-smokers, 1.5 million are current smokers, according to data.
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Meanwhile, 350,000 of those have never smoked a cigarette. This number has almost doubled; from 4.9 per cent last year to 8.1 per cent this year. In 2022 35 per cent of e-cigarette users are reported to also smoke cigarettes, sometimes known as 'dual users'.
But among this group, those who vape daily smoke fewer cigarettes than dual users who vape less frequently. The report is based on a YouGov survey of more than 13,000 adults from across Great Britain
It also found that 28 per cent of current smokers had never tried an e-cigarette, with 10 per cent of this group saying they were "concerned e-cigarettes are not safe enough". A third of adults believe that vaping is more, or equally as harmful, as smoking.
One in five former smokers said they used a vape to help them quit. More than half of current vapers who are ex-smokers, however, said they had been vaping for more than three years.
Vapers reported that the main reason they used e-cigarettes were for quitting smoking, to prevent them from returning to smoking and 14 per cent said they used vapes "because they enjoy it". The majority are said to use refillable tank systems but the report points to a rise in disposable e-cigarettes.
Use of these disposable vapes is up from 2.3 per cent of vapers using these in 2021 to 15 per cent this year. The report suggested that younger adults are driving the increase in the disposable vapes, with 48 per cent of 18 to 24-year-old vapers using this type of device.
They found the most popular flavours were fruit, followed by menthol.
Hazel Cheeseman, deputy chief executive of ASH, said: "Over the last decade we've seen a vaping revolution take hold. There are now five times as many vapers as there were in 2012, with millions having used them as part of a quit attempt.
"However, they haven't worked for everyone. Just under half of smokers who have tried them have stopped using them and 28 per cent have never tried one at all. Government has said that a 'vaping revolution' will help them meet their ambition for a smokefree country by 2030 but it won't be enough - we need a comprehensive plan that will help all smokers."
Earlier this year a separate report from ASH concluded that the proportion of children vaping is on the rise, with many being influenced by social media sites such as TikTok. While it is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s, the proportion of children aged 11 to 17 currently vaping has jumped from 4 per cent in 2020 to 7 per cent in 2022.
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