Solutions to among the most ceaselessly requested questions on vaping and its results.
A decade in the past, most people who smoke thought vaping was much less dangerous than tobacco. However ten years on, the alternative is true: the bulk say that vapes are simply as or much more harmful.1
You may see this shift in opinion within the chart beneath.2
It’s not stunning that sentiment in direction of vaping has grow to be extra destructive — the general public discourse has shifted considerably. Have a look at the information, and it’s simple to see why individuals would assume that vaping is simply as unhealthy, if not worse.
Listed here are simply three headlines printed in well-liked newspapers (The Solar, The Telegraph, and Day by day Mail) in the previous few years:
The rising reputation of e-cigarettes could also be another excuse for the backlash in opposition to them.
Once I was a child, public locations would usually stink of cigarettes. That’s not essentially the most dominant scent. Now it’s blueberry, strawberry, or apple: the scent of fruit-flavored vapes.
In the UK at the moment, nearly as many individuals vape as smoke tobacco: round one-in-ten adults.4 However the trajectory of those merchandise has been very completely different. Half of adults smoked cigarettes within the Nineteen Seventies, and since then, charges have plummeted. Vapes, alternatively, are a comparatively latest addition. You may see this within the chart beneath.
Is that this a constructive improvement? Or are individuals simply substituting one dangerous behavior with an equally dangerous and even worse one?
On this article, I deal with among the most ceaselessly requested questions on vaping and its results. Are British people who smoke proper? Is vaping really extra dangerous than tobacco? Is there proof for its effectiveness as a instrument to give up? May it’s a “gateway” to smoking amongst younger individuals?
That is the essential query. If vaping is simply as unhealthy as cigarettes, then substituting one for the opposite wouldn’t be constructive for public well being, or for people who smoke.
Analysis means that this isn’t the case. Whereas we are able to’t say that vaping carries zero threat, the proof clearly signifies that it’s a lot much less dangerous than smoking.
Have a look at the information, and it’s simple to see why individuals would assume that vaping is simply as unhealthy, if not worse.
This shouldn’t be stunning: tobacco is extraordinarily unhealthy for well being. It not solely will increase the chance of lung most cancers — American males who smoke are round 21 occasions extra prone to die from lung most cancers — however a variety of different ailments too, together with strokes, coronary heart illness, and a number of other different cancers.5 Within the UK, smoking is the main threat issue for early loss of life, forward of weight problems, hypertension, ldl cholesterol, and different behavioral and environmental components. In case you’re a smoker who needs to enhance your well being, quitting might be the one neatest thing you are able to do.
To grasp the comparative dangers of tobacco and vaping, we have to perceive what’s in every and what makes them dangerous.
Once you mild a cigarette, you burn dry tobacco leaves. This burning generates hundreds of chemical compounds, a few of that are poisonous or carcinogenic. These embrace nicotine (which makes them addictive), tar, carbon monoxide, benzene, cadmium, and polycyclic fragrant hydrocarbons (that are robust carcinogens), to call a couple of. Inhaling these substances is unhealthy for the lungs, however as talked about above, it could additionally harm different organs.
Vaping is completely different. E-cigarettes warmth a liquid, which creates an aerosol. This vapor is inhaled, however since no burning happens — the liquid is heated, however there isn’t any combustion — fewer toxins are launched in comparison with smoking.
That doesn’t imply vaping is totally innocent, although. Many vapes include nicotine, which makes them addictive. Whereas nicotine is comparatively benign for most individuals and has little long-term well being influence, it could have short-term impacts on blood strain and coronary heart fee.6 It’s additionally not really helpful for pregnant ladies, since there may be some proof that it could cross the placenta and have an effect on fetal improvement — I say extra on this within the extra info part beneath.
Vapes additionally include solvents and flavorings that may create dangerous byproducts, and small quantities of metals might be launched from the heating coil. Inhaling aerosols can irritate the lungs and exacerbate bronchial asthma or bronchitis. However total, the well being impacts are far decrease than smoking tobacco.
Folks usually observe that we now have much less knowledge on the long-term well being impacts of vaping. That is definitely true in comparison with cigarettes. Nonetheless, vapes’ earliest adopters have been utilizing them for twenty years — they had been first commercialized within the early 2000s. If there have been vital long-term well being impacts, we’d count on to see indicators of these by now, particularly in the event that they had been anyplace near these of tobacco. And whereas we don’t have very long-term epidemiological knowledge, we do have a superb understanding of the substances, the degrees of publicity, and the way these are prone to have an effect on the human physique.
A number of extra well being issues are sometimes raised; you may need seen them in media headlines. I evaluate the proof on these within the “detailed questions” part beneath.
For individuals who don’t wish to learn by all the particulars in my detailed FAQ beneath, the abstract is kind of easy: many well being our bodies recommend that vaping is far much less dangerous than tobacco. Whereas they advise in opposition to it for younger individuals or non-smokers, they do advocate it as a “quitting instrument” for people who smoke for the well being advantages of switching.7
I don’t assume I can put it extra succinctly than this:
“The important thing factors about vaping (e-cigarettes) might be simply summarised. In case you smoke, vaping is far safer; for those who don’t smoke, don’t vape.”
Simply in order that my place is obvious for the remainder of the article: I don’t wish to “promote” e-cigarettes, simply as Chris Whitty wouldn’t advocate them to somebody who has by no means smoked or vaped. Nonetheless, primarily based on the analysis, vaping does seem like an efficient instrument that helps individuals give up cigarettes.
What motivated me to jot down this analysis overview was the discovering within the opening chart — that the majority people who smoke assume vaping is equally or much more dangerous. That false impression robs some individuals of the best choice they may need to give up. I hope, then, that this text helps to shut the hole in understanding and helps extra people who smoke who wish to cease however have struggled to take action.
Regularly requested questions on the well being impacts of vaping
The vast majority of people who smoke say that they want to give up.17 Most have tried to, usually a number of occasions.18 The issue is that letting go of an addictive behavior is tough.
For this reason I wrote this text: Analysis means that e-cigarettes are the most efficient quitting instrument.19
Periodically, researchers publish “Cochrane Critiques” on the effectiveness of vapes as a option to quit smoking.20 Cochrane Critiques are unbiased assessments that try to reply essential medical questions by inspecting the scientific literature as an entire.
Their newest evaluate — printed in 2025 — discovered “excessive certainty proof” that individuals who used vapes had been extra prone to quit smoking than these utilizing different nicotine substitute therapies, like patches or gums.21 This confidence degree is uncommon for these Cochrane assessments.
Additionally they judged that there’s average proof that vapes that contained nicotine had been simpler as a quitting instrument than these with out.
The modifications within the final decade are per this discovering. If we have a look at success charges for stopping tobacco smoking in Britain, we see a gradual enhance during the last decade or so, each amongst adults and younger individuals.
There are a number of the explanation why success charges have elevated — for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic might have performed a task, as individuals spent much less time round different people who smoke and extra individuals set well being targets — however this rise additionally coincides with the rising reputation of vaping. Earlier than 2013, the preferred “quitting aids” had been nicotine substitute therapies (patches or gums), however since then, e-cigarettes have grow to be the commonest by far.
“The important thing factors about vaping might be simply summarised. In case you smoke, vaping is far safer; for those who don’t smoke, don’t vape.” — Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England
Greater than half of British people who smoke who give up within the final 5 years say they used e-cigarettes of their ultimate, profitable try. That quantities to 2.4 million individuals. 60% of these ex-smokers nonetheless use vapes, however 32% have since give up vaping too. E-cigarettes haven’t been the one issue in additional individuals quitting, however they’ve doubtless performed some position.
Thus far, we’ve talked about using vaping to give up cigarettes altogether: the potential advantages or dangers of utterly substituting one for the opposite. Nonetheless, many individuals who vape proceed to smoke. If they’re vaping and nonetheless smoking the identical variety of cigarettes, then there aren’t any well being advantages to utilizing e-cigarettes. Their total consumption would have really elevated. Nonetheless, some present people who smoke use vapes to smoke fewer cigarettes, even when they don’t lower them out utterly. That discount in cigarette use remains to be useful for his or her well being.
If vapes are an efficient and fewer dangerous instrument that helps individuals give up cigarettes, then present people who smoke must know this. Survey knowledge means that they don’t.
The chart beneath reveals how completely different teams view the relative harms of vapes and cigarettes. This survey knowledge comes from Motion on Smoking and Well being (ASH).
On the left, you possibly can see that ex-smokers and present people who smoke who do vape usually tend to say that vaping is much less dangerous than cigarettes. That’s not stunning, and could be one of many the explanation why they began vaping within the first place.
However, for those who ask people who smoke who don’t presently vape — they both used to, or have by no means used them — they are saying the alternative: that e-cigarettes are extra dangerous. That is proven within the two bars on the correct.
E-cigarettes are the simplest quitting instrument.
These variations may partly clarify why people who smoke seem like more and more destructive in direction of vapes, which we noticed within the opening of this text. Those that smoked in 2015 and thought vapes could be efficient methods to give up not smoke, and subsequently weren’t surveyed as “present people who smoke” in 2025. That leaves those that have been extra reluctant to make use of instruments like vaping to give up.
This notion hole amongst present people who smoke issues. There’s proof that individuals’s perceptions of the well being dangers of vaping have an effect on their willingness to modify.22 For instance, in a research of younger grownup people who smoke, those that knew vaping was much less dangerous had been extra prone to have made the swap from cigarettes to e-cigarettes at a follow-up six years later.23
When people who smoke are requested why they haven’t tried e-cigarettes, round one-third both say it’s as a result of they’re involved that they’re not protected sufficient or don’t wish to substitute one habit for an additional. See the chart beneath, which reveals the fundamental purpose cigarette people who smoke give for not attempting e-cigarettes.
A further 13% are skeptical that vapes would assist them give up or reduce on cigarettes. Certainly, e-cigarettes gained’t work for anybody, however as we noticed earlier, they’re the simplest instrument out there.
Meaning round half of people who smoke who’re unwilling to strive e-cigarettes give causes which are at odds with a lot of the scientific proof and public well being recommendation.
Tobacco people who smoke who swap to e-cigarettes may see giant well being advantages, however one concern is that many individuals who’ve by no means smoked take up vaping. If the well being dangers of vaping usually are not zero, then that might characterize a public well being drawback.
Is it frequent for individuals who have by no means smoked to take up vaping?
As a reminder, just below 10% of British adults use vapes (we’ll focus on vaping amongst younger individuals quickly). That’s round 4.7 million individuals.
You may see this breakdown of vapers within the chart beneath, primarily based on their smoking historical past.
The bulk are both present or ex-smokers. There are round 300,000 individuals who vape who’re “by no means people who smoke”, which is a comparatively small share of the full.
This represents round 1% of individuals in Nice Britain who’ve by no means smoked and now vape. 99% of “by no means people who smoke” don’t vape, however this determine does seem like rising rapidly.
The largest concern that most individuals increase about vaping is its influence on younger individuals. That is for good causes.
First, most individuals who grow to be hooked on smoking begin of their teenage years.24
Second, younger persons are extra prone to vape than individuals in older age teams. The chart beneath plots the share of individuals in every age group who vape within the UK. Practically 30% of these aged 16–24 vape (not essentially each day, however no less than sometimes), in comparison with 14% of these of their late thirties or 10% of their late fifties.
Let’s then undergo the primary issues.
The primary is that e-cigarettes are a “gateway” to tobacco. Youngsters begin smoking vapes, then progress to cigarettes, which they get hooked on. Given the massive well being dangers of smoking, it could be extraordinarily detrimental if vaping had been a key driver.
Those that argue that vaping is a gateway to tobacco usually level to the truth that, at a person degree, younger individuals who vape usually tend to go on to smoke than younger individuals who don’t vape. That is true. A Cochrane Assessment — one of many detailed unbiased assessments I discussed earlier — discovered proof of this.25 However, the evaluate additionally makes clear that this doesn’t imply they’re causally linked; that vaping is essentially what triggered them to begin smoking. It may very well be the case that, for some underlying purpose, younger people who find themselves extra prone to begin vaping are the identical younger people who find themselves extra prone to take up smoking. These younger individuals who vape are probably extra liable to “dangerous” or addictive behaviors than those that don’t, and that doubtless makes them extra open to smoking cigarettes, too.
The Cochrane Assessment really suggests the alternative, however with “very low certainty proof”: that, on the inhabitants degree, a rise in vaping charges is related to a decline in smoking charges. The standard of current analysis makes this troublesome to say with confidence, although.
Nonetheless, we are able to additionally acquire perception by population-level knowledge on smoking charges. If vaping had been a widespread purpose for younger individuals to begin smoking tobacco, then we’d count on to see extra kids utilizing cigarettes over time. Vaping charges have elevated fairly dramatically amongst younger individuals, and with nearly 20% of 15-year-olds often utilizing them, have reached a degree the place we’d count on to see an impact within the smoking knowledge.
In England, we don’t see such an impact: smoking charges proceed to fall (or maintain fixed at their lowest ranges in many years). You may see this within the chart beneath. Only some per cent of 15-year-olds smoke often, which is a big drop from the Eighties, when it was over 20%. The share of pupils (aged 11 to fifteen) who’ve ever smoked has additionally fallen dramatically, from 50% to 12% for the reason that Nineties. The identical is true for different nations in Nice Britain.
These traits are mirrored in america, the place smoking charges amongst younger individuals have continued to fall, reaching a low of 1.7% highschool college students in 2024. As Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of well being coverage and administration on the College of Massachusetts Amherst, says:
“The smoking charges amongst children have declined steeply, and whether or not or not that is resulting from vaping or one thing else is up within the air. But it surely’s troublesome to argue that—within the U.S. inhabitants—youth vaping is en masse inflicting children to smoke. The info would not help that thus far.”
Proof from New Zealand remains to be contested, with some researchers suggesting that vaping is liable for a slowdown within the decline of youth smoking charges.26 Others dispute this.27
To me, there’s a clear argument to be made that e-cigarettes can positively influence many adults. In older populations, the bulk of people that vape are ex- or present people who smoke; solely a small share have by no means smoked. Nonetheless, the web influence on youngsters is much less clear to me. That’s as a result of most of those that vape are teenagers who haven’t had time to grow to be people who smoke. It’s exhausting, then, to know the counterfactual of what number of would go on to smoke cigarettes if vapes didn’t exist.
That results in one other concern: that a big inhabitants of younger individuals is changing into hooked on nicotine by vaping. Many are those that would by no means have smoked within the pre-vaping period. I believe that is broadly true. The importance of this drawback is determined by how dangerous we predict nicotine is by itself. It’s far much less harmful than most of the different substances in cigarettes, however most well being specialists would argue that it isn’t risk-free.
That’s why public well being recommendation nearly at all times tries to strike a steadiness between recommending e-cigarettes as an efficient instrument to give up tobacco with out encouraging vaping use amongst younger individuals and non-smokers. The problem for public communication is that emphasizing the small well being dangers of vaping for non-smokers or younger individuals could make it appear significantly “unsafe” — or much more dangerous than cigarettes — which isn’t true.
I began this text with survey knowledge; it confirmed that the majority British people who smoke assume that vaping is extra or equally dangerous than cigarettes.
The proof is obvious that that is incorrect.
A smoker who replaces cigarettes with e-cigarettes will scale back their well being dangers and probably dwell an extended and more healthy life. The truth that many people who smoke imagine the alternative signifies that many is not going to strive e-cigarettes as a option to give up. That’s a disgrace as a result of e-cigarettes are the simplest quitting instrument out there.
A smoker who replaces cigarettes with e-cigarettes will scale back their well being dangers and probably dwell an extended and more healthy life.
On the identical time, given the present proof we now have about vaping charges amongst younger individuals, policymakers have very legitimate issues about the right way to finest promote e-cigarettes as a safer cessation instrument with out actively encouraging tens of millions of teenagers to begin. Placing this steadiness is troublesome, however essential. The stakes are excessive.
Smoking is the main threat issue for early loss of life in lots of international locations and kills greater than six million individuals yearly. The mistaken perception that vaping is simply as dangerous means fewer people who smoke make the swap that might save their lives. Closing this notion hole might save tens of millions.
Acknowledgments
Many because of Max Roser, Edouard Mathieu, Simon van Teutem, and Fiona Spooner for his or her priceless ideas and suggestions on this text, and to Marwa Boukarim for work on its visualizations.
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Hannah Ritchie (2025) - “Is vaping much less dangerous than smoking, and does it assist individuals give up?” Printed on-line at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/vaping-vs-smoking-health-risks' [Online Resource]BibTeX quotation
@article{owid-vaping-vs-smoking-health-risks,
writer = {Hannah Ritchie},
title = {Is vaping much less dangerous than smoking, and does it assist individuals give up?},
journal = {Our World in Knowledge},
12 months = {2025},
observe = {https://ourworldindata.org/vaping-vs-smoking-health-risks}
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