A recently released fact sheet from Action on Smoking and Health （ASH） analyzed how adult e-cigarette behavior evolved from 2010 to 2021.
The data for the preparation of the fact sheet is taken from Smokefree GB, an annual survey of ASH conducted by YouGov. The survey began in 2010 to collect data on the e-cigarette use behavior of adults aged 18 and above. The usage patterns are summarized as follows:
After the first decline last year, the proportion of adults using e-cigarettes this year rose to 7.1%, the same as in 2019, reaching 3.6 million.
Currently, nearly two-thirds of e-cigarettes are former smokers （64.6%）。 This proportion continues to grow, while the proportion of dual smokers who smoke both traditional tobacco and e-cigarettes will drop to 30.5 in 2021. %.
The proportion of adult smokers who have never tried e-cigarettes continues to slowly decline to 30.1% in 2021, while the current proportion of smokers who use e-cigarettes remains stable.
Among those who have never smoked, less than 1% currently use e-cigarettes （equivalent to 4.9% of e-cigarettes）。
The report also pointed out that, as in previous years,the main reason current smokers use e-cigarettes is to reduce （26%） and then help them quit smoking （17%） and prevent relapse （14%）。 Although most smokers switch to e- cigarettes in order to quit smoking , nearly one-third of smokers still mistakenly believe that e-cigarettes and smoking are more harmful or equivalent （32% vs. 34% in 2020）。
Although most smokers switch to e- cigarettes in order to quit smoking , there are still some people who believe that e-cigarettes are just as harmful as smoking:
The fact sheet shows that the open fuel tank system is still the most popular type of e-cigarette. For products with cartridges, Vype is the most popular, followed by Juul . Interestingly, most e-cigarette users use lower concentrations of nicotine in their devices, and over the years, most people have further reduced this concentration.
The document revealed other interesting data, such as differences in usage based on socioeconomic distribution , age, and smoking status. “By 2021, more than half of ex-smokers （53.8%） said they have been smoking e-cigarettes for more than 3 years, and in 2017 when we started asking ex-smokers how long they had smoked e-cigarettes, this proportion was 18%. 12.7% People have smoked e-cigarettes for less than 1 year, 33% have smoked e-cigarettes for 1-3 years, and 53.8% have smoked e-cigarettes for more than 3 years.”