WHO warns of alarming teen vaping surge as 15 million adolescents now using e-cigarettes
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the tobacco industry is “aggressively targeting young people” with new nicotine products.
More than 15 million children aged 13 to 15 worldwide now use e-cigarettes, with adolescents nine times more likely than adults to vape, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Monday. The agency warned that this surge in youth vaping is driving a new wave of nicotine addiction.
According to the "WHO Global Report on Trends in Prevalence of Tobacco Use 2000–2024 and Projections 2025–2030", over 100 million people globally now use e-cigarettes, including 86 million adults, mostly in high-income countries.
More To Read
- Growing health crisis among Kenya’s elderly: Costs, care and insurance coverage
- Gaza health system overwhelmed as WHO reports 42,000 people have life-changing injuries
- Ethiopia makes history as first IGAD nation to secure WHO’s top medicine safety rating
- Mental health takes centre stage at the General Assembly
- Paracetamol and vaccines not linked to autism, says WHO
- Stakeholders petition Senate to halt tobacco control Bill
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the tobacco industry is “aggressively targeting young people” with new nicotine products.
“Millions of people are stopping, or not taking up, tobacco use thanks to tobacco control efforts by countries around the world,” he said.
“In response to this strong progress, the tobacco industry is fighting back with new nicotine products, aggressively targeting young people. Governments must act faster and stronger in implementing proven tobacco control policies.”
While e-cigarette use is rising, WHO noted that overall tobacco consumption is declining worldwide. The number of smokers has fallen from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024, representing a 27 per cent decrease since 2010.
Tobacco hotspot
In South-East Asia, once the world’s tobacco hotspot, male smoking has nearly halved, dropping from 70 per cent in 2000 to 37 per cent in 2024, accounting for more than half of the global decline.
Africa has the lowest prevalence at 9.5 per cent and is on track to meet the 30 per cent reduction target, though population growth means the total number of users is still rising.
Similarly, prevalence in the Americas has fallen by 36 per cent to 14 per cent, while Europe now has the highest overall tobacco use at 24.1 per cent, with European women leading globally at 17.4 per cent.
“Women have been leading the charge to quit tobacco. They hit the global reduction target for 2025 five years early, reaching the 30 per cent milestone back in 2020,” said WHO.
“Prevalence of tobacco use among women dropped from 11 per cent in 2010 to just 6.6 per cent in 2024, with the number of female tobacco users falling from 277 million in 2010 to 206 million in 2024.”
Men, however, still make up the majority of users, with prevalence dropping from 41.4 per cent in 2010 to 32.5 per cent in 2024.
Prevalence among men
“Men are not expected to reach the goal until 2031. Today, more than four out of five tobacco users worldwide are men, with just under 1 billion men still using tobacco. While prevalence among men has fallen from 41.4 per cent in 2010 to 32.5 per cent in 2024, the pace of change is too slow,” said WHO.
The agency urged governments to strengthen tobacco control measures.
“This means fully implementing and enforcing the MPOWER package and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, closing loopholes that allow the tobacco and nicotine industries to target children, and regulating new nicotine products like e-cigarettes,” said WHO.
“It also means raising tobacco taxes, banning advertising, and expanding cessation services so that millions more people can quit.”
Top Stories Today
