ONS reports vaping still ahead of smoking in Great Britain

The Office for National Statistics has published its 2025 adult smoking habits bulletin, with e-cigarette use remaining slightly higher than current cigarette smoking in Great Britain on the OPN measure.

The ONS estimates that around 5.4 million people aged 16 and over in Great Britain used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally in 2025, equal to 9.9% of that population. On the same survey, current smoking was estimated at 8.7%, or around 4.8 million people. The ONS says this continues the pattern seen in 2024, when e-cigarette use first overtook cigarette smoking on this measure.

The smoking headline is still moving down. Using the Annual Population Survey, which covers adults aged 18 and over across the UK, the ONS estimates that 4.9 million people smoked cigarettes in 2025, or 9.8% of the adult population. That was lower than 10.6% in 2024 and well below the 20.2% recorded when the series began in 2011.

The vaping figures are more mixed. Daily e-cigarette use in Great Britain dipped slightly, from 6.7% in 2024 to 6.5% in 2025, while occasional use edged up from 3.3% to 3.4%. Among people who had never smoked, 2.9%, around 1.1 million people, reported daily or occasional e-cigarette use, up from 2.7% and around 940,000 in 2024.

Age patterns also shifted. People aged 25 to 34 had the highest vaping prevalence in 2025, at 16.4%, replacing 16 to 24 year olds as the group most likely to report current e-cigarette use. The ONS says vaping among 25 to 34 year olds rose from 12.9% in 2024.

For adult smokers, the NHS presents vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking and a quitting tool, while stressing that vaping is not harmless and that children and non-smokers should not vape. The Local Government Association response to the ONS figures also pointed to local variation in smoking rates, arguing that support remains important in areas where smoking is still comparatively high.

The bulletin is useful, but it should be read carefully. The ONS uses different surveys for headline UK smoking estimates and Great Britain vaping estimates, so the figures are not a single like-for-like count of all nicotine use.