Regular vaping among young people in Wales falls for first time since 2019

Nation.Cymru staff

The proportion of young people regularly vaping in Wales has fallen for the first time in six years, with an estimated 3,200 fewer users than in 2023.

New figures from the Schools Health Research Network (SHRN) Student Health and Well-being Survey show 5.2% of pupils in years seven to 11 reported vaping at least once a week, down from 7% two years earlier.

It is the first recorded fall since 2019 and puts regular vaping among secondary school pupils at a similar level to 2021, when the figure stood at 5.5%.

The survey, carried out every two years, is completed by more than 130,000 pupils in years seven to 11 at mainstream secondary schools across Wales.

The decline follows several years of concern about increasing vape use among children and teen-agers.

Among year 11 pupils, the proportion vaping at least weekly has fallen from 15.9% in 2023 to 12.8%.

Falls were recorded across every year group and among both boys and girls, although girls remain more likely to vape regularly.

Some 6.6% of girls in years seven to 11 reported vaping at least weekly, compared with 3.7% of boys. That was down from 8.6% and 5.1% respectively in 2023.

Regular vaping also remains more common as pupils get older. Among year seven pupils, howev-er, the proportion vaping at least weekly fell from 0.8% in 2023 to 0.6% in 2025.

The latest figures cover a period which included increasing public concern about youth vaping and the introduction of a ban on single-use vapes in June 2025.

Public Health Wales said it was not yet possible to determine how much of the decline could be attributed to the ban, although the findings were consistent with other evidence showing vaping rates falling following its announcement.

Further restrictions on vape flavours, packaging, displays and marketing aimed at reducing their appeal to children have since become law under the Tobacco and Vapes Act, although the legisla-tion was passed after the survey was completed.

Smoking among young people has also continued to decline.

The proportion of pupils reporting smoking at least once a week fell to 1.8% in 2025, compared with 2.7% in 2023 and 3.1% in 2021.

Public Health Wales estimates that represents around 1,600 fewer young people smoking regularly than in 2023.

Evidence

Mary-Ann McKibben, Consultant in Public Health for Public Health Wales, said: “The evidence is clear: while vaping is less dangerous than smoking overall, it is not risk-free and no children or young people should be vaping.

“So after a number of years of rising levels of vape use by children and young people, this fall in the levels of vaping and smoking is extremely welcome.

“In analysing the data from the SHRN report, we can identify that overall nicotine use is now fall-ing among children and young people following an ongoing upward trend driven by vaping.

“While there are likely to be a number of factors influencing this change in behaviour, including public health work with schools to address vaping and smoking and wider public awareness of the harms associated with vaping, the introduction of the disposable vapes ban in June 2025 to address youth vaping may have played a part.

“We will continue to monitor young people’s use of nicotine products, using the SHRN survey and other data sources, to try and identify if this is a one-off ‘blip’, or indicative of an ongoing down-ward trend.”

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.