At a Glance
E-cigarette health statistics in the U.S. show a market that has become smaller in some places and more concentrated in others. Youth use is still the clearest pressure point, while the product mix has shifted heavily toward disposables, flavored devices, and brand concentration (FDA NYTS 2024).
Fast facts
- 1.63 million U.S. middle and high school students reported current e-cigarette use in 2024, down from 2.13 million in 2023 (FDA NYTS 2024).
- Youth current e-cigarette use fell to 5.9% in 2024 from 7.7% in 2023 (FDA NYTS 2024; CDC MMWR 2023 NYTS).
- 87.6% of current youth e-cigarette users used flavored products in 2024 (FDA NYTS 2024).
- Disposable devices were the most commonly used device type among current youth users at 55.6% (FDA NYTS 2024).
- Elf Bar was the most commonly reported brand among current youth users at 36.1% (FDA NYTS 2024).
- 1.8% of U.S. middle and high school students, or 480,000 students, reported current nicotine pouch use in 2024 (FDA NYTS 2024).
- Global e-cigarette use exceeded 100 million people in 2025 (WHO global report 2025).
Contents
- Youth use and prevalence
- How the product mix changed
- Nicotine pouches in the same youth market
- What the health data says
- Adult use patterns
- The larger tobacco context
- Reading these numbers carefully
Youth use and prevalence
The most important e-cigarette health statistic is not a single chemical or device feature. It is the scale of youth exposure.
In 2024, 1.63 million U.S. middle and high school students reported current e-cigarette use, compared with 2.13 million in 2023 (FDA NYTS 2024). That change matters because it still leaves a large population of adolescents using a product that can deliver nicotine and other inhaled substances during a period of rapid brain development (CDC health effects).
The national prevalence also fell. Current e-cigarette use among U.S. middle and high school students was 5.9% in 2024, down from 7.7% in 2023 (FDA NYTS 2024; CDC MMWR 2023 NYTS). The drop is visible, but the rate remains high enough to keep youth prevention squarely in the center of the public-health discussion.
A closer look by school level shows the burden is not evenly distributed. Current e-cigarette use was 7.8% among high school students in 2024 and 3.5% among middle school students (FDA NYTS 2024). That gap is a reminder that the behavior intensifies with age inside the school population.
Youth use in one table
| Metric | 2024 value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Current e-cigarette users among middle and high school students | 1.63 million | FDA NYTS 2024 |
| Current e-cigarette use among all middle and high school students | 5.9% | FDA NYTS 2024 |
| Current e-cigarette use among high school students | 7.8% | FDA NYTS 2024 |
| Current e-cigarette use among middle school students | 3.5% | FDA NYTS 2024 |
| Daily use among current youth e-cigarette users | 26.3% | FDA NYTS 2024 |
| Use on at least 20 of the last 30 days | 38.4% | FDA NYTS 2024 |
The table shows a pattern worth emphasizing. A substantial share of current youth users are not occasional experimenters. In 2024, 26.3% of current youth e-cigarette users used an e-cigarette product daily, and 38.4% used e-cigarettes on at least 20 of the last 30 days (FDA NYTS 2024). That is consistent with frequent-use behavior rather than one-off exposure.
How the product mix changed
The next layer of e-cigarette health statistics is the device and flavor profile. This is where the market becomes easier to understand. Youth use is not only about whether students vape, but also about what they are using.
In 2024, 87.6% of current youth e-cigarette users used flavored e-cigarettes (FDA NYTS 2024). Among students currently using e-cigarettes, 54.6% reported flavors with “ice” or “iced” in the name (FDA NYTS 2024). Those two figures matter because flavor choices are part of product appeal and product identity, not a minor side detail.
Disposable devices dominated the category. In 2024, disposable devices were the most commonly used e-cigarette device among current youth users at 55.6% (FDA NYTS 2024). By contrast, 15.6% of current youth e-cigarette users used prefilled or refillable pods or cartridges (FDA NYTS 2024). The difference suggests the category’s youth footprint is shaped by simple, ready-to-use products rather than systems that require more maintenance.
Brand concentration among youth users
Brand recognition is another sign of concentration. In 2024, Elf Bar was the most commonly reported brand among current youth e-cigarette users at 36.1% (FDA NYTS 2024). Other frequently reported brands included Breeze at 19.9%, Mr. Fog at 15.8%, Vuse at 13.7%, and JUUL at 12.6% (FDA NYTS 2024).
| Brand reported by current youth users | Share |
|---|---|
| Elf Bar | 36.1% |
| Breeze | 19.9% |
| Mr. Fog | 15.8% |
| Vuse | 13.7% |
| JUUL | 12.6% |
That table does not prove causation. It does show that the youth market is not spread evenly across hundreds of products. A few brands account for a large share of reports, which is important when public-health officials and retailers think about enforcement, marketing, and product accessibility (FDA NYTS 2024).
Nicotine pouches in the same youth market
E-cigarette health statistics increasingly sit alongside nicotine pouch data because the same youth audience can be exposed to both categories. The overlap matters when looking at nicotine initiation and continued use.
In 2024, 1.8% of U.S. middle and high school students, or 480,000 students, reported current nicotine pouch use (FDA NYTS 2024). That is a smaller prevalence than e-cigarettes, but it is still a meaningful number of adolescents.
Use intensity in this category is also notable. Among youth nicotine pouch users, 22.4% reported daily use and 29.3% reported using nicotine pouches on at least 20 of the last 30 days (FDA NYTS 2024). Those figures point to regular behavior among a sizable subgroup, not just novelty use.
Flavor is again a major feature. In 2024, 85.6% of current youth nicotine pouch users used flavored nicotine pouches (FDA NYTS 2024). Brand concentration is also strong here. Zyn accounted for 68.7% of current youth nicotine pouch brand reports, followed by on! at 14.2%, Rogue at 13.6%, Velo at 10.7%, and Juice Head ZTN at 9.8% (FDA NYTS 2024).
What the health data says
Usage statistics are only part of the story. Health impact statistics help explain why these numbers are tracked so closely.
The CDC notes that e-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, but that does not make it harmless (CDC health effects). According to the same source, aerosol can contain nicotine, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead, tiny inhalable particles, volatile organic compounds, and flavorings such as diacetyl linked to serious lung disease (CDC health effects).
That distinction is central. “Less harmful than cigarette smoke” is not the same as safe. For health analysis, the relevant question is not whether vaping equals smoking. It is whether exposure is occurring in a population that includes large numbers of adolescents and young adults, many of whom may be using these products frequently.
Pregnancy is one of the clearest examples of risk sensitivity. E-cigarette use during pregnancy has been associated with low birth weight and pre-term birth (CDC health effects). That makes the health discussion broader than youth initiation and pushes it into reproductive and maternal-health territory as well.
The EVALI episode is another reminder that product risk is not theoretical. In February 2020, CDC had received reports of 2,807 hospitalized EVALI cases or deaths from 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (CDC EVALI). By that same point, 68 EVALI deaths were confirmed in 29 states and the District of Columbia (CDC EVALI).
The patient profile was also revealing. Among 2,668 hospitalized EVALI cases or deaths reported as of January 14, 2020, 66% were male, the median age was 24 years, 15% were under 18 years old, 37% were ages 18 to 24 years, 24% were ages 25 to 34 years, and 24% were ages 35 years or older (CDC EVALI). Those numbers show that severe outcomes were not confined to one age band.
Substance-use data from EVALI cases provide another layer. Among 2,022 hospitalized EVALI patients with substance-use data, 82% reported using THC-containing products and 33% reported exclusive THC use, while 57% reported using nicotine-containing products and 14% reported exclusive nicotine use (CDC EVALI). Where source data were available, 78% of THC-product users said they acquired products only from informal sources, compared with 69% of nicotine-product users who said they acquired products only from commercial sources (CDC EVALI).
Adult use patterns
Adult e-cigarette statistics look different from youth statistics, but they still help frame the broader market. Adults in the youngest age bands have the highest prevalence. In 2023, 15.5% of adults ages 21 to 24 used electronic cigarettes, the highest age-group prevalence shown in the 2019-to-2023 trend chart (CDC NCHS Data Brief 524). Adults ages 18 to 20 were also high at 10.3% in 2023 (CDC NCHS Data Brief 524).
Gender differences were pronounced. In 2023, 17.6% of men used electronic cigarettes, compared with 5.5% of women (CDC NCHS Data Brief 524). That is a large gap and suggests different adoption patterns across adult groups.
Race and ethnicity data show additional variation. In 2023, 8.0% of adults who identified as other and multiple race used electronic cigarettes, while 7.5% of White adults, 4.4% of Hispanic adults, and 3.4% of Asian adults used electronic cigarettes (CDC NCHS Data Brief 524). Earlier CDC adult data show similar complexity. In 2019, 10.9 million U.S. adults, or 4.5%, used e-cigarettes (CDC MMWR adults 2019). That same year, 29.3% of non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native adults used e-cigarettes, 23.3% of non-Hispanic White adults, 20.7% of non-Hispanic Black adults, 13.2% of Hispanic or Latino adults, and 11.0% of non-Hispanic Asian adults (CDC MMWR adults 2019).
Adult user profile
Among current adult e-cigarette users in 2021, 29.4% were current cigarette smokers, 40.3% were former cigarette smokers, and 30.3% had never been cigarette smokers (CDC QuickStats NHIS 2021). That mix shows that adult vaping is not a single-pathway behavior. Some adults use e-cigarettes alongside cigarettes, some after quitting cigarettes, and some without any cigarette history.
Age again changes the picture. Among adult e-cigarette users aged 18 to 24 in 2021, 61.4% had never smoked cigarettes (CDC QuickStats NHIS 2021). That share falls sharply with age, down to 23.6% for ages 25 to 44 and 7.2% for ages 45 and older (CDC QuickStats NHIS 2021).
The larger tobacco context
E-cigarette health statistics make more sense when placed inside the wider tobacco landscape. The CDC’s 2024 youth survey reported that 2.25 million U.S. middle and high school students used any tobacco product in 2024 (FDA NYTS 2024). That includes e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, combustible tobacco, and multiple-product use.
The survey also reported that 8.1% of all students used any tobacco product in 2024, including 10.1% of high school students and 5.4% of middle school students (FDA NYTS 2024). Only 2.8% of students reported current use of any combustible tobacco product, while 3.0% reported current use of multiple tobacco products (FDA NYTS 2024). That tells you the market is not simply a cigarette story anymore.
Cigarette use itself was at a low point. In 2024, 1.4% of students reported current cigarette use, the lowest level ever recorded by the survey (FDA NYTS 2024). That is important context, because any evaluation of vaping has to account for the possibility that nicotine use has shifted away from one product class toward another.
The same survey also showed notable disparities in overall youth tobacco use. In 2024, 16.3% of non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native students reported current use of any tobacco product, compared with 10.0% of Black students, 8.4% of Hispanic students, and 9.0% of multiracial students (FDA NYTS 2024). These differences matter because public-health responses are not effective when they ignore uneven burden.
Reading these numbers carefully
The strongest way to read e-cigarette health statistics is to separate prevalence from harm, and harm from product design. A prevalence decline can be real without eliminating concern. A product can be less harmful than cigarettes and still be a meaningful health issue when millions of minors are exposed to nicotine, flavors, aerosol particles, and routine use patterns (CDC health effects).
The same principle applies to the global picture. WHO says global e-cigarette use exceeded 100 million people in 2025 (WHO global report 2025). WHO also says global tobacco users fell from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024, which provides a broader context for a nicotine market that includes vaping (WHO global report 2025). The category exists inside a larger transition, not outside it.
International youth data reinforce the scale issue. WHO says current e-cigarette use among adolescents aged 15 to 16 years was 22% overall in 2024, ranging from 6.4% in Portugal to 36% in Poland (WHO youth prevalence 2025). WHO also says prevalence was higher among girls at 25% than boys at 19% among 15- to 16-year-olds in 2024, and that Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Serbia, and Poland each had adolescent e-cigarette prevalence of 30% or higher (WHO youth prevalence 2025). Those figures show that adolescent vaping is a cross-border issue, not a single-country anomaly.
Adult prevalence across the WHO European Region adds one more benchmark. WHO says the European Region adult prevalence of current e-cigarette use was 4.6% overall, 5.1% among males, and 4.2% among females, with an estimated 31.4 million adult users (WHO adult prevalence 2025). WHO also cites Serbia at 18.4% adult current e-cigarette use in 2023, Luxembourg at 17.0%, Croatia at 12.0%, Ireland at 11.2% in 2024, and Czechia at 11.1% in 2023 (WHO adult prevalence 2025). These comparisons help show how much variation exists even within one region.
If you are looking at e-cigarette health statistics for policy, research, or consumer education, the main takeaway is straightforward. The market is large, youth-facing, flavor-heavy, and concentrated around disposable products and a handful of brands. At the same time, the health evidence remains serious enough that high prevalence cannot be treated as a neutral market signal.