WHO Reports 100M Global E-Cigarette Users Including 15M Teens

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 100 million people worldwide now use e-cigarettes, including at least 15 million teenagers aged 13 to 15, and 86 million adults primarily in high-income countries. The WHO highlights a concerning trend: children are on average nine times more likely than adults to vape, with the vaping industry aggressively targeting young people through marketing strategies that risk hooking children on nicotine earlier. Despite global declines in smoking rates—from 1.38 billion tobacco users in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024—this rise in vaping threatens to undermine decades of progress in tobacco control. WHO experts warn that e-cigarettes, marketed as harm reduction tools, actually fuel a new wave of nicotine addiction among youth and call on governments to intensify tobacco control policies including higher taxes, advertising bans, and cessation support. The WHO stresses that while tobacco use is decreasing globally, the tobacco epidemic remains a significant public health challenge, and the tobacco industry is shifting tactics to maintain nicotine addiction through new products like e-cigarettes. Continued government action is deemed essential to prevent reversal of tobacco use declines and protect future generations from nicotine addiction.