The number of young people vaping dropped to the lowest level it’s been in a decade. Photo credit: Ganesh Harikant, Pexels.
According to new data from the latest National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), half a million fewer US youth reported using e-cigarettes in 2024 compared to 2023.
The nationally representative data, published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), highlights trends in the use of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches among US youth—two tobacco product categories the FDA and CDC are closely monitoring.
The NYTS findings showed a significant decrease in the number of middle and high school students who reported using e-cigarettes in the past 30 days—from 2.13 million (7.7%) in 2023 to 1.63 million (5.9%) in 2024. This drop to the lowest level in a decade was mainly driven by reduced e-cigarette use among high school students (from 1.56 million to 1.21 million), while middle school usage remained relatively unchanged. Overall, the number of youth using e-cigarettes in 2024 is roughly one-third of what it was at its peak in 2019, when more than 5 million reported use.
Among youth who currently used e-cigarettes, 26.3% reported using e-cigarettes daily. The vast majority of youth who currently used e-cigarettes used flavored products (87.6%), with fruit (62.8%), candy (33.3%) and mint (25.1%) being the top three most commonly used flavors. Disposable e-cigarette products were the most common product type used; however, the most popular brands included both disposable and cartridge-based products. Among youth who currently used e-cigarettes, the most commonly reported brands were Elf Bar (36.1%), Breeze (19.9%), Mr. Fog (15.8%), Vuse (13.7%), and JUUL (12.6%). Over the past year, a substantive drop occurred in youth reporting use of e-cigarette products under the Elf Bar brand - from 56.7% in 2023 to 36.1% in 2024.
Youth nicotine pouch use did not show a statistically significant change from 2023 (1.5% in 2023 and 1.8% in 2024). Of the nearly half a million middle and high school students who reported current nicotine pouch use, 22.4% used them daily. The most commonly reported brands among that group were Zyn (68.7%), on! (14.2%), Rogue (13.6%), Velo (10.7%), and Juice Head ZTN (9.8%). Among those who currently used nicotine pouches, the vast majority used flavored products (85.6%), with mint (53.3%), fruit (22.4%), and menthol (19.3%) being the most commonly used flavors.