US Smoking Rates Are The Lowest They Have Ever Been- All Thanks to Vapes

While some entities keep insisting that vaping leads to smoking, studies and real world data keep indicating that actually the contrary is true. Vaping has succeeded where no pharmaceutical NRT has, and is leading to the lowest smoking rates ever recorded worldwide.

Diane Caruana

September 4, 2024

Smoking in the U.S. has dropped to a historic low of 11%, with only 6% of people under 30 reporting that they smoke.

A recent Gallup poll revealed that cigarette smoking in the U.S. has dropped to a historic low of 11%, with only 6% of people under 30 reporting that they smoke. This significant decline is largely attributed to the rise of vaping, which has played a crucial role in reducing smoking rates, especially among younger generations.

The Connecticut State Department of Health recently released findings from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), highlighting both historic lows and slight increases in tobacco and vapour product use among high school students. In 2023, 3% of Connecticut high school students reported smoking cigarettes within the past 30 days, marking a significant rise from 1.3% in 2021. However, this still represents an 18.9% decrease from 2019, and a dramatic decline of 91.5% from 1997, when 35.2% of students smoked.

Similar trends were observed in the use of other traditional tobacco products. Cigar use among high schoolers rose to 4.1% in 2023, showing a 485% increase from 2021 but only a modest rise since 2019. Smokeless tobacco use also increased by 76.9% between 2021 and 2023, yet overall usage has decreased by 11.5% since 2019.

Vapor product use peaked in 2019, and while it has seen an uptick from 2021 to 2023, it remains below 2019 levels. In 2023, 28% of students had tried e-cigarettes, and 11.5% were current users, showing respective increases of 12.4% and 8.5% from 2021. However, since 2019, the number of students who had ever used e-cigarettes dropped by 37.4%, and current use decreased by 57.4%. Daily vaping also fell from 6.1% to 3.6%, a reduction of 40.9%.

Despite such data, vaping is still villainized

Discussing Gall up poll, World Vapers’ Alliance Director, Michael Landl, emphasized that vaping is not a gateway to smoking but rather a tool to help people quit. This was recently proven again by yet another study. Despite this, vaping faces increasing regulatory challenges, which Landl argues could undermine the public health benefits achieved. He stresses that supporting vaping as a harm reduction strategy is essential for continuing this progress and reducing the burden on healthcare systems.

The effect of vaping on smoking rates is undeniable as similar patterns are being observed worldwide, and these have been consistently similar for the last few years. For example, in 2018, 15.1% of Minnesotans reported smoking, and by 2020 this number had dropped to 13.8%. Even back then, the Department of Health, had emphasized that these figures reflected the national ones which dropped from 21.2% in 2011 to 15.5% in 2020. While vaping rates remain relatively unchanged with 4.9% of Minnesotan adults reporting vaping in 2020, from 5% in 2018.

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Similarly, a 2020 study published by the scientific journal Addiction has revealed that the increase in vaping rates in England among young adults between 2007 and 2018, did not correlate with increased smoking rates. The current study aimed to measure the gateway effect by looking at the association between prevalence of e-cigarette use among young adults and prevalence of uptake of smoking generally, including among people who have never smoked.

However, in line with countless other studies looking for the same correlation, the study authors found no statistically significant association between the prevalence of e-cigarette use and ever having smoked regularly (used as an indicator of uptake) among those aged 16 to 24.

Vaping has been displacing smoking worldwide

In conclusion, studies worldwide have debunked the Gateway Theory, which suggests vaping leads to smoking. Instead, research consistently shows that vaping actually reduces smoking rates. Evidence from countries including the U.S., UK, and South Korea indicates that vaping serves as an effective smoking cessation tool. The majority of vapers are former smokers who have transitioned away from traditional cigarettes, and youth vaping does not lead to increased smoking rates. In fact, as vaping has become more popular, smoking rates have plummeted, particularly among younger populations, highlighting vaping’s role in decreasing tobacco use and the harm associated with it.