Smoking status of daily vapers: New Zealand Health Survey 2017/18 to 2021/22

Published online: 
06 June 2023
Smoking status of daily vapers: New Zealand Health Survey 2017/18 to 2021/22.

In 2011 the Government set a goal that by 2025 fewer than 5% of New Zealanders will be daily smokers. Vaping products have the potential to contribute to this goal by helping smokers quit or reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke.

The New Zealand Health Survey first included questions on vaping in 2015/16 as part of a tobacco use module and these questions were introduced into the annual survey in 2017/18. See the latest Questionnaires and Content Guide for the questions on vaping and smoking.

Data from the New Zealand Health Survey shows that smoking rates are declining, while vaping rates are increasing. Since 2019/20 increases in vaping have exceeded declines in smoking, especially among young people. This suggests that some people who have never smoked are taking up vaping.

The main purpose of this report is to determine the smoking status (current smoker, ex-smoker, never-smoker) of daily vapers. The report includes the following:

  • trends in smoking (2011/12 to 2021/22) and vaping (2017/18 to 2021/22)
  • trends in daily vaping by smoking status (2017/18 to 2021/22)
  • daily vaping by smoking status for population subgroups (2020/21 and 2021/22 combined).

This analysis is not suitable for publication in the Annual Data Explorer because some combined smoking/vaping groups are too small to allow the usual demographic breakdowns.

Please note

Disruptions to data collection due to COVID-19 resulted in smaller sample sizes for the last 3 survey years, especially for 2021/22. The main impact of smaller sample sizes is increased sampling errors associated with estimates. Sampling errors are used to calculate the 95% confidence intervals, meaning these are wider than usual. Wider 95% confidence intervals indicate lower quality data.

For information about procedures and protocols followed to produce high-quality data from the New Zealand Health Survey please refer to the survey Methodology Report

Key findings

  • In 2021/22, 1 in 12 people aged 15 or older (8.3%) were daily vapers (346,000 people). This is a large increase since 2019/20, when about 1 in 30 people (3.5%) were daily vapers (144,000 people).
  • Young people aged 18–24 had the highest rate of daily vaping in 2021/22 (22.9%), up from 5.0% in 2019/20.
  • The majority of daily vapers aged 15 or older were either ex-smokers or current smokers. In 2021/22, 56% of daily vapers were ex-smokers and 22% were current smokers (that is, dual users).
  • A relatively small, but increasing, proportion of daily vapers are people who have never been smokers. In 2021/22, 18% of daily vapers were never-smokers, up from 7% in 2017/18.
  • The smoking status of daily vapers varies by age. Among daily vapers aged 25 or older, nearly all were ex-smokers (64%) or current smokers (26%).
  • Among daily vapers aged 18–24, 33% were ex-smokers, 21% were current smokers (dual users), and 37% were never-smokers (based on pooled data for 2020/21 and 2021/22).
  • Estimates for young people aged 15–17 are based on small numbers and should be interpreted with caution. Based on pooled data for 2020/21 and 2021/22, 1 in 14 young people aged 15–17 (6.9%) were daily vapers. Of these, 76% were never-smokers, 18% were ex-smokers and 6% were current smokers. This age group accounted for 4% of all daily vapers.
  • In all ethnic groups, about half of daily vapers were ex-smokers. The proportion of daily vapers who were also current smokers (that is, dual users) was: Māori (28%), Pacific (35%), Asian (14%), European/Other (23%). The proportion of daily vapers who were never-smokers was: Māori (16%), Pacific (12%), Asian (28%) and European/Other (18%).

If you have any queries please email [email protected].

Publishing information

  • Date of publication:
    06 June 2023
  • ISBN:
    978-1-991075-29-1 (online)
  • HP number:
    8775
  • Citation:
    Ministry of Health. 2023. Smoking Status of Daily Vapers. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
  • Ordering information:
    Only soft copy available to download
  • Copyright status:

    Owned by the Ministry of Health and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

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