Global Vaping Prevalence (%) - Various Surveys

For the first time we have tried to bring together the extant information on the prevalence of use of e-cigarettes, and this is summarised in this graphic using data for 2017 gathered from Eurobarometer. This information is also available online, on a country-by-country basis where it exists, at https://gsthr.org/countries/.

Overall, as a percentage of the total adult population, levels of current use of e-cigarettes in different countries range between 1% and 6%. Levels of sometime experience with e-cigarettes range up to 27% of the adult population in Greece, and 20% or above in Estonia, Czech Republic, France, Cyprus, Latvia, and Austria. Clearly there are many smokers who are interested in these products. But there is also a large gap between those who have shown enough interest to have tried an e-cigarette at some time, and those who have gone on to currently use them. The highest prevalence of vaping is found in Great Britain where approximately 6% of the adult population currently vapes. There are limitations with all surveys on vaping, but one of the most extensive datasets is from Eurobarometer 458. The European Commission used this public opinion gathering resource to conduct an extensive survey of e-cigarette use across the EU as part of a wider review of smoking habits.

The key findings were that across the 28 countries of the EU in 2017:

» Around 15% of those aged 15 or over had tried an e-cigarette at least once – compared to 12% in 2014;

» 2% of the population are current users and this has remained stable since 2014;

» Almost one in twenty current smokers now currently use e-cigarettes or similar devices (four percent), and 4% of ex-smokers;

» Current use of e-cigarettes among people who have never smoked is rare. At most, one percent of e-cigarette users in any EU country are people who have never smoked.

We have tried to gather information on current or daily use, as well as on the numbers who have ever used e-cigarettes. However, there are large gaps – we have only been able to obtain recent, reliable data from 36 countries, and much of this information comes from one major EU survey. Clearly global interest in e-cigarettes by consumers and some policy makers has not been matched by government or academic surveys to explore even the extent of use. Readers must be aware of limits to the comparability of the sources. Surveys can suffer from numerous differences, due to variations in sampling methods and questions asked. We therefore suggest caution in making country comparisons.

See also p.40 and p.58 of the report: No Fire, No Smoke: The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction 2018 — Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (gsthr.org)