19 Helpful Statistics About Vaping to Stop Smoking

The most common defense of vaping is that it can help people stop smoking. Because there’s been so much information and misinformation about vaping, Vapor Scapes decided to help people learn the truth about using vaping to stop smoking by collecting the research from actual doctors, scientists, and government organizations. Enjoy these statistics about vaping to stop smoking.

Obviously, the intended audience consists of adults who smoke and would like a way to kick the habit.

19 Statistics You Need to Know About Using Vaping to Stop Smoking

Number of People Vaping Vs Smoking

These statistics contrast the increase in vaping vs the decrease in smoking worldwide:

• The population of vapers has increased from seven million in 2011 to 35 million in 2016.
• Euromonitor predicted that at least 55 million people will pick up vaping devices by 2021.
• Since 2000, the number of smokers has decreased from 1.14 billion to 1.1 billion.

Source: World Health Organization / Euromonitor, as reported by the BBC.

Growth in the E-Cigarette Market

While companies may promote their vaping devices and e-liquids as a way to curb smoking, they obviously hope to profit.

• The market for e-cigarettes has increased from about $4 billion to over $22 billion in the past five years.
• The top countries for the vaping market include the US, the UK, and Japan.
• While most people make vaping purchases in local vaping shops, purchasing online comes in second. Other sources of both initial vaping supplies and refills include gas stations and convenience stores, grocery stores, bars, pharmacies, and mall kiosks.
• The UK government reported that the most popular e-juice flavors were fruit, tobacco, and mint or menthol. These were popular with 29, 27, and 25 percent of people responding.
• Refillable tanks are more popular than non-refillable pods, probably because of the cost.

Source: Ernst and Young

Why Do Other People Vape?

It’s interesting to explore the reasons that people vape. A study from Ernst and Young polled 3,000 people who regularly vape to ask them this question:

• Over half said that they believed vaping was less harmful than smoking, so they vaped to replace cigarette smoking.
• About half said that vaping helped them at least reduce their cigarette habit.
• Almost 50 percent said that vaping didn’t bother others, as cigarette smoke does.
• Over 40 percent said that they enjoyed vaping in places that banned cigarettes.
• Almost 40 percent also reported that they enjoyed picking out different flavors of e-juice.

Health Statistics About Vaping

If the most common and defensible reason to vape is because it’s less harmful than smoking cigarettes, it’s important to verify that claim. Since vaping hasn’t been around as long as smoking, it’s impossible to be entirely certain about the future impact. At the same time, it’s fair to review available claims.

• Vaping devices and e-liquids vary, but the National Institute of Health reported that vaping delivered between nine and 450 percent fewer toxins than cigarette smoke.
• The NHI also found that low-voltage devices generated fewer toxins than high-voltage tanks.
• UK Public Health reported that vaping was generally thought to be 95 percent safer than smoking cigarettes.
• Only about one percent of people who vape never smoked.

Sources: UK Public Health from the BBC; US National Institute of Health

Statistics About Vaping to Stop Smoking

The National Institute of Health also reported upon randomized control trials to compare the effectiveness of vaping as a smoking-cessation aid:

• Out of 657 smokers who wanted to quit, over seven percent were successful with e-cigarettes, but only four percent were with a placebo, and less than 6 percent with a nicotine patch.
• Out of 300 smokers who hadn’t intended to stop smoking, eleven percent quit anyway with vaping, but another study found success rates up to 19 percent.

Source: NIH

What Do These Statistics About Vaping Mean?

Well, Mark Twain once said that there are lies, damned, lies, and statistics. Also, refer to our previous posts about the reasons that studies might minimize the effectiveness of smoking as a stop-smoking aid. In everyday life, we’ve met many people who managed to use vaping as a way to curb or entirely quit smoking.

These best way to find out if you can stop smoking by vaping is to try it, not to expect instant results, and report back upon your experiences and frustrations.