The amount of 11-17-year-olds who have ever smoked has risen to one in five (21%) in 2025, up from 14% in 2023, according to new data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). The group’s research also shows that growing numbers of consumers misperceive vapes to be equally or more harmful than cigarettes.
Since 2022, misperceptions about the harms of vaping have risen sharply each year, with over half (56%) of adults in 2025 wrongly believing vaping to be more or equally harmful compared with cigarettes. The figure is even higher among 11-17-year-olds with the ASH youth survey revealing that 63% of young people have the same misperception – up from 41% in 2022.
UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) Director General John Dunne said: “The UKVIA has always been clear that under 18s should not be vaping (or smoking for that matter) and it is deeply troubling to see smoking rates rise, particularly after a long period of decline and especially so among under 18s.
“We can’t afford to wait a moment longer to clamp down hard on retailers who sell age-gated products to minors. This is why we need a vape licensing scheme to ensure compliance with the law, put persistent offenders out of business and act as a deterrent to others.
“Enforcement in the UK is patchy at best, fines are woefully low and rogue retailers will continue flouting the law if they think they can get away with it.”
He added: “The misperceptions regarding the relative risks of smoking and vaping threaten to derail the government’s smokefree goals and we need a national public health information campaign to set the record straight.
“The rise in youth smoking experimentation should be a wake-up call for the government. Policies must prioritise reducing youth access to all nicotine products and not come at the cost of reversing progress on smoking rates.
“We urge public health authorities to step up efforts to communicate the clear scientific consensus that vaping is significantly less harmful than combustible tobacco use and remains the UK’s most effective quit aid for adult smokers. Smoking still claims 220 lives every day in the UK and we must bring these numbers down.
“As the UK moves into a new regulatory phase following the ban on single-use vapes, the UKVIA and its members remain committed to working with regulators, trading standards and public health experts to ensure products stay out of children’s hands while remaining accessible and appealing to adult smokers who want to quit.”
