Rising Vape Use in Young People in the UK
August 21, 2024
The growing trends of e-cigarette use, or 'vapes', amongst young people across the UK become a rather important and fast-developing public health concern. Surveys conducted in March and April 2023 have returned results that show a steep increase in the number of children who have tried vaping, against a backdrop of high exposure to promotion of e-cigarettes. This blog looks at the key findings, patterns of use, reasons for vaping, and what these trends mean for young people.
Vaping Experimentation Spikes
One year on, there has been a 50% rise in the number of 11 to 17-year-olds who have tried vaping-from one in thirteen to one in nine. By 2023, 20.5% of children reported having had experiences with vaping-up from 15.8% in 2022 and from 13.9% in 2020. Most of these youngsters had vaped once or twice, but the trend is nonetheless worrisome. The increase in experimentation is soaring, particularly in the 11-15 years younger age groups, suggesting increasing curiosity and accessibility to such products.
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The proportion of children who currently vape (vape more than once a week) has only increased from 6.9% in 2022 to 7.6% in 2023. That means that although more kids are trying out vapes, fewer are becoming regular users, though still at worrisome levels.
Reasons for the Trend
Many and varied reasons are given for why young people use vaping. The most common reason among never-smokers is just to see what it's like, cited by more than half of them, 54%. There has been an increase in those who vape because "other people do it," of 7 percentage points in general, and from 11% to 18% among never-smokers. Availability of flavors as an appeal has been more constant, with 21% of ever-smokers and 12% of never-smokers citing that because they like the flavors.
Another worrying development is that young people hold wrong perceptions of the relative harm of vaping compared to smoking. For the first time, most children now believe that vaping is as harmful or more harmful than smoking. This includes nearly half of those who have tried vaping—so concerns about health risks are certainly not deterring experimentation.
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The Role of Promotion and Access
Increased vaping among young people has been aligned with a massive increase in their exposure to promotions of e-cigarettes. In 2023, more than half of all children reported seeing e-cigarettes being promoted in shops, significantly higher than in previous years. The promotion has also increased online, where nearly a third of children now see vape advertisements on places like TikTok and YouTube.
Even though it is forbidden to sell e-cigarettes to under-18s, somehow kids get them. Shops remain the most common source, followed by getting them from friends. Children, however, did report that the first vape came from e-cigarette companies themselves, a glaring loophole in the current state of regulations that allows companies to give away vapes for free.
The Rise of Disposable Vapes
Disposable vapes are now the equipment of choice among young users, their popularity surged tremendously from 7.7 percent in 2021 to 69 percent in 2023. Elf Bar was considered the most popular brand, followed by Lost Mary, which is an Elf Bar variant. This trend is worrying because disposable vapes are easy to use, cheap at pocket-friendly prices, and have flavors that come in a variety, making them very attractive, especially to young people.
Conclusion
The rise in vaping among young people in the UK reflects an issue at many levels: increased accessibility, promotion targeted at them, and flavored disposables. Many young people experiment with vaping out of curiosity, but the potential health risks and growing prevalence of regular use can't be ignored. What's needed now is better regulation in marketing and selling e-cigarettes, alongside improved education regarding the risks of vaping.
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