Decline in vaping pushes use of tobacco products by young Americans to record low

Smallest number of American teens and tweens in 25 years are currently using tobacco products.

According to the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, only 8 percent of middle and high school students — or 2.25 million — reported using tobacco products in the past 30 days. By 2019, 23 percent, or just over 6 million, had reported current tobacco use, driven almost entirely by e-cigarette use, at 20 percent.

E-cigarettes are still the most popular choice, used by 6 percent of middle and high school students in 2024, researchers report Oct. 17. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Nicotine pouches – a product that releases nicotine when placed between the cheek and gum – came in second for the first time at nearly 2 percent, followed by cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco. The National Youth Tobacco Survey began measuring use among college students in 1999.

More middle school students, at 10 percent, reported using any tobacco product in the past 30 days than high school students, at 5.4 percent. Just under 8 percent of high school students reported current use of e-cigarettes in 2024, down from 10 percent in 2023. This drop of 350,000 high school students was a large reason for the decline in current use of each product among all students surveyed.

Disparities in tobacco use among ages and adolescents from different racial and ethnic groups still exist. Past research has found that the tobacco industry has long targeted certain groups through advertising and marketing, including promoting menthol cigarettes in black communities and using tribal icons to target American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Tobacco use most often begins in adolescence, a time when exposure to nicotine, the addictive substance in tobacco, can be particularly harmful to adolescent brain development.SN: 6/30/15). Nicotine affects the ability to learn, remember and pay attention. Tobacco control programs at the federal, state and local levels have contributed to the decline in use, the researchers wrote.