Electronic cigarettes—also known as nicotine vapes—are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid into an aerosol for inhalation. The liquid may contain nicotine, flavourings and other ingredients. Unlike conventional cigarettes, vapes do not burn tobacco or produce tobacco smoke.
In our 2024 report, we found that the legal status of nicotine vapes varies widely and continues to change. Some countries regulate them through dedicated legislation, others include them within general tobacco laws, while in some places their legal status remains unclear or they are not covered by a specific regulatory framework.
Nicotine vapes (e-cigarettes) are currently unregulated in 57 countries.
They are:
Albania Angola Belize Benin Bosnia and Herzegovina Burkina Faso Burundi Central African Republic Chad Comoros Cuba Democratic Republic of Congo Djibouti Dominica Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Grenada Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Kiribati Kosovo Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Niger Palestine / West Bank & Gaza strip Papua New Guinea Peru Rwanda Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Sao Tome and Principe Sierra Leone Solomon Islands Somalia South Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Zambia Zimbabwe