25 to 34-year-olds are now the most likely to vape

People aged 25 to 34 are now the most likely age group in the UK to vape, overtaking 16 to 24-year-olds, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.

The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds using e-cigarettes rose from 12.9% in 2024 to 16.4% in 2025. It was the only age group to record an increase.

Vaping now more common than smoking

An estimated 5.4 million people aged 16 and over, or 9.9% of the population, vaped daily or occasionally in 2025. That compares with 4.8 million cigarette smokers, or 8.7%.

David Mais, from the ONS, said: "Fewer than one in 10 adults now smoke. This is the lowest proportion on record and continues the long-term decline in smoking."

"At the same time, e-cigarette use remains more common than smoking and has followed an overall upward trend since 2020. E-cigarette users are also getting older, with those aged 25 to 34 now overtaking 16 to 24-year-olds as the age group most likely to use them. This may reflect existing users getting older, growing popularity among this age group, or a combination of both."

Other findings

• Almost three-quarters (74.1%) of people who had ever smoked regularly said they had quit.
• Just over half (51.7%) of current smokers said they wanted to give up.
• About a third (33.8%) of current smokers also vaped, as did 20.7% of former smokers.
• Men remain more likely to smoke than women: 11.3% against 8.2%.
• Smoking among 18 to 24-year-olds has fallen from 25.7% in 2011 to 7.2% in 2025.

"Way too convenient"

A worker at a specialist vape shop in Wolverhampton, who has been in the trade for more than a decade, said he had seen more customers in their late twenties and early thirties, and blamed high-strength prefilled pod devices sold in petrol stations and corner shops.

"They are very high nicotine levels. They're being sold by staff who don't know what they're selling," he said. "I've had customers come in saying I'm on low amounts of nicotine when they're on two per cent products, which is 20mg, which is the legal maximum amount of nicotine."

"The nicotine strengths that are available to them are way too high, especially for somebody who's never smoked or has only smoked socially."

What the evidence says

Health experts agree that vaping is far less harmful than smoking, and a major review published this month found nicotine e-cigarettes help more smokers quit than patches or gum. But vapes are not risk-free, and the NHS advises people who have never smoked not to start, because nicotine is addictive.

Disposable vapes were banned in England last year, and the government has promised further rules on how vapes are flavoured, packaged and displayed, to make them less appealing to young people.

Anyone in Birmingham who wants to stop smoking or vaping can get free support through the NHS, including from local pharmacies and the city's stop smoking service, which offers advice and nicotine replacement.