Tejal Somvanshi
More than one million adults in Great Britain who have never smoked are now using e-cigarettes, according to 2025 ONS data from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. The figure represents a rise from around 940,000 (2.7%) in 2024 to approximately 1.1 million (2.9%) in 2025 among people aged 16 and over who had never smoked. Public health bodies say the shift was not the intended outcome of Britain's original harm-reduction vaping strategy, and it arrives as new vaping product duties that took effect on October 1, 2026, begin to reshape the market.
The ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, with 2025 data released on October 6, 2026, shows the proportion of adults in Great Britain who had never smoked but reported daily or occasional vaping rose from approximately 2.7% in 2024 to 2.9% in 2025. The 25-to-34 age group showed the most notable rise in the current ONS data. The same data confirms that the majority of people who vape overall remain current or former smokers using the devices as a tobacco cessation tool. Separately, UCL researchers analyzing data for England found a sevenfold increase in never-smoker vaping since 2021, covering the period to April 2024.
For non-smokers who vape, this research highlights that e-cigarettes are not risk-free. While vaping carries substantially lower risks than combustible tobacco, regular nicotine consumption causes dependency. Individuals who never smoked do not have the tobacco-harm reduction rationale that applies to smokers who switch, and users should expect tighter UK regulatory restrictions, potential flavor bans, and higher costs following the new vaping product duty.
The Policy Backdrop Behind the Numbers
Britain's e-cigarette policy was built on one founding principle: a device delivering nicotine without combustion was a dramatically safer option for adults already addicted to tobacco. The NHS, Cancer Research UK, and successive governments promoted vaping as a quit-smoking tool throughout the 2010s. What the ONS data now documents is that e-cigarettes have spread beyond that original intended use.
For young adults who never smoked cigarettes, the entry point was not harm reduction — it was flavored disposable vapes marketed as a consumer lifestyle product. The government's vaping product duty, which took effect October 1, 2026, imposes new excise costs on vaping products. The pending Tobacco and Vapes Bill includes further provisions including restrictions on disposable e-cigarette sales and flavor availability. For current smokers using vaping to quit, those restrictions affect product availability without touching the public health case for cessation aids.
What this data does and does not show matters. A rise from 2.7% to 2.9% describes a trend; it does not establish why people started vaping or prove that anyone who vapes will progress to smoking tobacco. People who do not smoke and are considering vaping should weigh the absence of any harm-reduction benefit against a genuine risk of nicotine dependency.
On how many non-smokers vape in the UK: ONS estimates that approximately 1.1 million people aged 16 and over in Great Britain who had never smoked used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally in 2025, up from around 940,000 in 2024. The 25-to-34 age group showed the most notable rise in the current ONS data.
New ONS tables, regulatory decisions on disposable vapes, and any revision to NHS Stop Smoking Service guidance will update the evidence base.
Related coverage: UK e-cigarette waste and regulatory proposals; Karmactive’s health coverage. For primary-source context, see UK Parliament’s Tobacco and Vapes Bill docket.
