Vaping Statistics Australia 2024

Vaping statistics in Australia for 2023  show that vaping is a growing trend among young people. Is it still true in 2024?

Let’s learn more about it in today’s post.

Statistics About Vaping in Australia

In 2024, The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023 reports that 1 in 5 teenagers have used nicotine vaping products (NVPs) and that current use of e-cigarettes also increased, from 2.5% in 2019 to 7.0% in 2022–2023.

Smoking may have dropped significantly nationwide — that should be great news, right? Unfortunately, it’s in proportion to the use of illegal, low-quality NVPs all over the country.

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Unsurprisingly, statistics on vaping show only “7% of vapers currently get their products legally via GP prescriptions.”

A GP’s guidance is crucial to the effective use of NVPs for quitting smoking. If smokers looking to quit are using poor-quality NVPs without any quality and product assurance, they’re putting their health and their long-term opportunity to quit in danger.

Increased Availability of Illegal NVPs

The boom reflected in these vaping statistics has been driven by the growing availability of illegal and low-quality nicotine vaping products. These are illegally being supplied via convenience stores or obtained from overseas. 

These imports are fuelling e-cigarette use among smokers and non-smokers alike. A 2022 Four Corners documentary exposed a thriving black market and the resultant rise in vaping among Australian youth. 

New vaping studies show that vaping was most common among people aged 18–‍24, with current use increasing substantially between 2019 (5.3%) and 2022–‍2023 (21%).

Additional data from the Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug Survey (ASSAD) also shows that 29.9 per cent of young Australians aged 12 to 17-years-old have tried e-cigarettes and vaping devices, most likely illegally sold to them by unscrupulous shops

Low quality vapes are dangerous. They’re made without smoking cessation in mind, only profit. Unscrupulous parties usually smuggle these into the country like illegal tobacco and drugs, and they’re targeting both smokers and non-smokers to make big money.

As of March 2024, selling these have become illegal.

No Such Thing as ‘Nicotine-Free’ Vapes

Many e-cigarettes are also falsely labelled as nicotine-free, when in reality they can contain the highest levels of nicotine on the market.

High-quality pharmacy-supplied NVPs, on the other hand, only contain these chemicals in trace amounts, incapable of producing a toxic effect. You can find these trusted products in over 2,200 registered pharmacies across the country.

These NVPs are designed to be used by long-time smokers struggling to quit their smoking habit. Unlike illegal NVPs, these products are manufactured with the highest medical standards (ISO and GMP) and molecularly-characterise all the ingredients use in their manufacture. 

As they’re sold in pharmacies, they are guaranteed to be of the highest quality and only used by patients under a GP’s guidance. Thus, they can only be legally obtained in Australia with GP prescriptions. (If you don’t fit that criterion, you shouldn’t be vaping.)

Teenage Vaping Statistics 2024

Generation Vape, the first national research project on vaping, has revealed that more than “30% of 14 to 17-year-olds engage in the activity”. 

As of 2024, the data still shows that 20-22 year-olds make up the bulk of vapers at 43%, 23-24 year-olds come next at 30%, and teenage vapers between 18-19 years old come third at 27%.

Still, this is a huge number of teenagers from age 18 below who use illegal NVPs

Since e-cigarettes can only be obtained legally through GPs in Australia, it’s safe to assume that teenagers are accessing them illegally via convenience stores and online sellers.

How this happens is due to two things: lack of background checking (with regards to the buyer’s age) and greed, as most sellers of NVPs will gladly sell these products to just about anyone, even children.

There are multiple reasons behind the upward trend in youth vaping:

• As per one study, 73% of young adults said they vaped out of curiosity. 63% of teenagers who do vape had last done so with a friend’s e-cigarette. Given the data from ASSAD, this continues to be true in 2024.
• Young adults are often unaware of the health risks associated with using illegal vaping products. 
• Companies making and selling vaping products illegally use flavours “such as candy, mango, peppermint, and vanilla to entice young people and normalise vaping as a fun recreational activity”.
• These vaping devices are far cheaper than traditional cigarettes.

Vaping Deaths Statistics 2024

Traditional smoking causes more than 20,000 deaths each year in Australia. In contrast, there are no known deaths directly attributable to the use of vapes in Australia. 

In 2024, there are still deaths not directly attributed to the use of vaping products.

Studies have shown that smoking, with over 7,000 dangerous chemicals and carcinogens dangerous to humans, has twice the danger of NVP aerosol in comparison. 

Clearly, this does not translate to the long-term safety of NVPs as substitutes for smoking, but it holds great potential as a smoking cessation tool.

Vaping Studies: Health Benefits and Risks

Vaping hasn’t been studied for long enough to understand its long-term impacts on health. 

High-quality NVPs, prescribed by doctors and used responsibly, can be used as an intervention for those struggling with pharmacological methods of smoking cessation. 

As mentioned earlier, pharmacy NVPs are made with smoking cessation in mind, have characterised ingredients, and are intended to wean you off smoking within the period your GP prescribes (or save you from relapses if you’ve gone cold turkey).

Unregulated and poor-quality vapes, however, are health hazards, as vaping statistics are proving. 

On top of being addictive, established risks include “intentional and unintentional poisoning; acute nicotine toxicity, including seizures; burns and injuries; lung injury; and increased smoking uptake in non-smokers”. 

Calls for Better Regulation of NVPs in Australia

The unregulated and easy access to harmful e-cigarettes has prompted renewed calls for greater policy action. New data has found that 87% of Australian adults want the TGA to regulate e-cigarettes to prevent younger generations from getting addicted to nicotine. 

We welcome this development and hope it will help weed out illegal, low-quality vapes in the market and lead to the use of vaping products as intended – helping smokers quit the habit.

As of 2024, new regulations were passed to prevent the increased sale of illegal NVPs across Australia. According to the government, they will not penalise individual NVP users, but rather ‘cut it at the source’ and ensure retailers of illegal NVPs cannot and have no legal way to stock their products.

Choose Safe Vaping with Smokefree

The 2024 vaping statistics clearly show vaping is becoming a recreational activity in Australia rather than its intended purpose of helping those struggling to quit smoking. That’s highly problematic. 

Let’s be very clear — vaping is only intended for long-time smokers who have tried to quit unsuccessfully, and whose doctors agree they may benefit from the use of NVPs. 

If you or someone you know is struggling in this regard, we can help.

We know you’re reading this post because you’re eager to learn about vaping statistics in Australia in 2024. 

Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around!

If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good.

Link References

• https://www.aihw.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/2024/february/smoking-rates-continue-to-decline
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-27/vape-haze:-the-new-addiction-of-vaping/13948226
• https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2024/8/vaping-triples-among-young-australians/
• https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/secondary-school-students-use-of-tobacco-and-e-cigarettes-2022-2023
• https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Vaping-and-smoking-behaviours-in-Australian-young-adults-a-short-report_30-Jan-2024.pdf
• https://adf.org.au/insights/clearing-the-air/
• https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/vaping-is-a-young-person-phenomenon-in-australia
• https://www.cancer.org.au/media-releases/2023/new-data-reveals-nine-in-ten-australians-want-government-action-to-stop-australia-s-escalating-e-cigarette-crisis
• https://www.tga.gov.au/news/media-releases/new-regulation-vapes-starting-january-2024