Vaping Is Growing Among People Who Never Smoked

The Trend: Many smokers started using vapes as an alternative to cigarettes, but new data shows that a growing number of people developed a vaping habit — even though they’d never smoked in the first place. The rates of people vaping in Great Britain who weren’t smokers before have nearly doubled in four years. Currently, about 5.4 million people ages 16 and up in England, Scotland, and Wales use e-cigarettes, and more than a million of them never smoked before they picked up a vape. 

What People Are Saying: In Great Britain, vapers tend to be younger — mostly between 25 and 34. In a BBC article, young British vapers talked about the ease of vaping compared to smoking, better taste and smell, and that pleasant nicotine hit. Not only that, but the cheery, colorful packaging of e-cigs is a far cry from the purposely disturbing UK cigarette packaging. 

What to Know: Vaping rates are increasing in the U.S., too, also among young people. Tobacco use has declined, but nicotine use has been steadily trending upward for several years. While vaping is considered to be safer than cigarettes, it’s not completely riskless — certainly for people who hadn’t previously experienced the harmful effects of smoking.