The number of teenagers reporting to use e-cigarettes has dramatically decreased this year, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
The report suggests that the surge in youth vaping that led to a regulatory crackdown in recent years has abated.
“Youth e-cigarette use has dropped to its lowest level in a decade. That’s a big deal. And it’s no accident,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra on Thursday. “It’s a hopeful sign that Americans have gotten wise to the risks of these products among youth and the marketing used by some to target our kids.”
From 2023 to 2024, the rate of e-cigarette use among middle school and high school students declined from 7.7% to 5.9%.
That’s an estimated 1.63 million this year, compared to 2.13 million in 2023, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey administered annually by the CDC and FDA.
Among students who currently use e-cigarettes, 38.4% reported frequent use and 26.3% reported daily use. More than half of students used disposables, with the most popular brand being Elf Bar, which is not authorized for sale by the FDA.
The report marks the lowest vaping levels on record since the high in 2019, when reportedly more than 27% of high school students who took the same survey said they used e-cigarettes.
The rise in youth e-cigarette users in the mid to late 2010s became a major concern for then-President Donald Trump, who announced in September 2019 that his administration would ban e-cigarette flavors in an effort to curb the spread of youth use.
In 2024, nearly 88% of vapers reported using a flavored e-cigarette product, nearly 63% of which were fruit flavored.
The Biden-Harris administration has taken an even tougher stance on flavored tobacco products with its proposed menthol cigarette ban, the ostensible purpose of which was to aid minority communities who are the primary users of menthols.
After significant outcry about the menthol ban, Becerra said that the final decision on whether or not to ban menthol cigarettes “will take significantly more time” following the “historic attention” and “immense amount of feedback, including from various elements of the civil rights and criminal justice movement.”
On Thursday, Becerra praised the FDA and CDC “for their part in preventing, educating, and enforcing when it comes to these and other tobacco products.”
“From day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken its responsibility to protect our kids seriously,” said Becerra.
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Some experts suggest, however, that although the number of high school and middle school students using e-cigarettes has now declined, young adults are vaping at higher levels than in the past.
A survey conducted by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Michigan study found that nicotine vaping among adults between the ages of 19 and 26 is at an all-time high of between 20% and 24%. This indicates many of the teenagers who vaped in their youth may have continued the habit into their adulthood.