The number of U.S. children using e-cigarettes has continued to decline, new federal data shows, prompting government health officials to declare an incremental victory in their battle against youth tobacco use.
About 6% of middle and high school students used vapes in 2024, up from 8% last year and an all-time high of 20% in 2019, according to a survey released Thursday by the FDA and CDC. Vape brand Juul fueled this rise, but has since declined in popularity following FDA actions and legal challenges.
Public health officials previously struggled to attribute this decline to fewer children vaping as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted data collection. This year, however, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control are celebrating the decline.
“I want to be unequivocally clear that this continued decline in e-cigarette use among our nation’s youth is a monumental victory for public health,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.
The data was collected through the National Youth Tobacco Survey, a questionnaire distributed each year to middle and high school students across the country and then analyzed by the FDA and the CDC. The survey has asked about the use of e-cigarettes since 2011.
King and Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, attributed the decline to anti-smoking education campaigns coordinated by both agencies. King also noted the FDA’s efforts to stop illegal vape sales, including a slew of warning letters sent last year to stores selling Elf Bars and Esco Bars. The most popular e-cigarette brand among kids is Elf Bar, with around 36% of e-cigarette users citing it as their favorite vape.
Outside experts were encouraged by the continued decline, but noted that about 1.6 million children are still vaping. The FDA is struggling to punish both manufacturers and sellers for selling unapproved products while there are still thousands of illegal e-cigarettes on the market.
“It is encouraging news that e-cigarette use among young people has plummeted,” Yolonda Richardson, CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said in a statement. “Despite this progress, youth e-cigarette use remains a serious public health problem in the United States… Relevant federal agencies must increase enforcement efforts to cleanse the market of all illegal e-cigarettes.”
The agencies also asked children about their use of nicotine pouches such as Zyn. Social media influencers, along with parent company Philip Morris International, have helped drive demand for the products predicting it would sell 580 million cans this year. In January, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company to prevent it from “setting its sights on young children.”
Based on the research, nicotine pouches such as Zyn do not appear to have gained much popularity among youth. About 1.8% of children reported using pouches in 2024, compared to 1.5% in 2023.
“In some ways we expected this to rise faster than it is,” said Kenneth Warner, a public health expert at the University of Michigan. “It can still catch on. They are still relatively new.”
Richardson expressed concern that use of the pouches could increase given their kid-friendly taste, online presence and ability to be used inconspicuously. King said the FDA remains concerned about nicotine pouch use among children and will continue to monitor it.
The initial results of the study published Thursday did not include data on traditional cigarette use among students. In 2023only 1% of middle school students and about 2% of high school students said they smoked cigarettes.