Home > Harm reduction implications of vaping overtaking smoking in Great Britain.

Adebayo Adebisi, Yusuff and Polosa, Riccardo and George, Jacob (2026) Harm reduction implications of vaping overtaking smoking in Great Britain. International Journal of Public Health, 71, 1609671. https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2026.1609671.

External website: https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/internationa...


In 2024, for the first time since national records began, more adults in Great Britain used e-cigarettes than smoked tobacco cigarettes [1]. Data released by the UK Office for National Statistics in November 2025 showed that 10.0% of adults aged 16 years and over were current e-cigarette users, compared with 9.1% who smoked tobacco (See Figure 1). This statistical crossover is a notable milestone in tobacco control, occurring alongside sustained declines in smoking prevalence—from 20.2% in 2011 to 10.6% in 2024. While cross-sectional and temporal data limit causal inference, these trends are consistent with harm reduction approaches operating alongside traditional tobacco control measures in driving population-level declines in smoking.

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