In Great Britain the proportion of people who have never smoked but use e-cigarettes has nearly doubled over four years. The Office for National Statistics reported that about 1.1 million never-smokers in England Scotland and Wales were using e-cigarettes daily or occasionally by 2025. This marked the first time official data confirmed that the number of never-smokers vaping across these regions had topped one million.
The data also showed that fewer than one in ten adults in the UK were smoking in 2025 according to The Guardian. Men were more likely to smoke than women continuing a pattern seen in earlier years.
The proportion of the population using e-cigarettes had risen to 9.9% by 2025. Vaping users were also getting older with those aged 25 to 34 now more likely to use e-cigarettes than younger adults.
David Mais from the Office for National Statistics said that smoking had fallen to its lowest proportion on record and continued a long-term decline. Hazel Cheeseman of Action on Smoking and Health said that smoking remained a major cause of preventable death in the UK despite its sharp decline.
In 2025 half of people who were still smoking said they intended to quit. The statistics on vaping included adults aged 16 and over living in Great Britain. Smoking data however covered adults aged 18 and over across the UK.
Hazel Cheeseman who leads the organization Action on Smoking and Health said that for the first time fewer than one in ten people in the UK were smoking. Justin Webb of London Metropolitan University noted that while e-cigarettes could help adults stop smoking they were not risk-free and their long-term health effects were still uncertain.
The UK government enacted new rules to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1 2009. The new age-of-sale rules are due to take effect on January 1 2027.
This move aimed to create a smoke-free generation by preventing young people from starting to smoke. The overall trend showed that smoking rates had dropped significantly and vaping had become more common among non-smokers.
The shift in usage patterns showed that vaping was becoming more common among people who had never smoked.
Vaping had become a widespread habit especially among adults in their twenties and thirties. The government’s efforts to reduce smoking were supported by these changing habits.
However experts warned that vaping still posed health risks and long-term impacts remained unknown. The data highlighted a major change in public health trends across Great Britain.
It also showed that smoking was no longer a common habit for most adults. Public health officials continued to monitor the use of e-cigarettes and their role in smoking cessation.
They emphasized that while vaping could be a helpful tool for smokers trying to quit it was not without risk.
The government's future policies are expected to focus on balancing harm reduction with safety concerns.