A study has found that the rate of vaping among 14–17-year-olds started to drop late last year following a rise in popularity.
The Generation Vape study, led by Cancer Council in partnership with the University of Sydney, has found that among 14–17-year-olds the rate of vaping was rapidly rising in recent years but started to drop late last year, falling from 18 per cent in early 2023 to now 15 per cent in 2025.
The study shows that while vaping was rapidly rising in 2023, now in 2025 young people aged 14–17 years old are vaping less.
The number of young people who have never vaped has increased to 85 per cent compared to 82 per cent in early 2023.
Even more promising is young people who have never smoked is at its highest ever level at 94 per cent.
This comes as the Australian Government has today announced over 10 million illegal vapes have been seized from the Australian market since January 2024.
Cancer Council tobacco issues committee chair Alecia Brooks said these enforcement figures and vaping trends are encouraging indicators that vaping laws are protecting young people, but illegal retailers persist in putting profit over public health.
“Vapes are becoming less socially acceptable, and less accessible however tobacconists in particular continue to exploit young people. Of those who said they purchased their own vape this year, over a third said they’d purchased it from a tobacconist or vape shop,” Ms Brooks said.
“Some tobacconists and vape shops are still blatantly selling illegal vapes to young people. With strong vaping and tobacco control laws now in place, we welcome increased government and agency enforcement action to deter and hold retailers accountable for illegally selling these harmful products,” she said.
“What is encouraging is that vape product access through social media channels remains incredibly low. Platforms like Snapchat, the most common platform for purchases, saw a decrease from less than a tenth in February 2024 to just [four per cent] in April 2025. Young people are also being exposed to significantly less vape ads on popular social media platforms this year compared to early 2024.”
Generation Vape Study chief investigator and University of Sydney professor Becky Freeman said the study also shows that the social acceptability of vaping over the past few years has shifted.
“Young people tried vaping as it was marketing to them as fun, “safe” and full of great flavours, but the increasingly young people report the realities of vaping addiction and harm to their wellbeing,” Ms Freeman said.
Ms Brooks said young people are more aware about the harms of vaping, and it’s not just across 14-17-year-olds.
“Our latest national data shows the rate of vaping among 18–24-year-olds has dropped from 20 per cent in 2023 to 18 per cent in 2025, and we hope to see this decline continue among all young people,” Ms Brooks said.
“This data tells us that we’re on the right track. We can’t take our foot off the pedal now and our focus needs to be on effective enforcement measures. Both retailers and the landlords who lease shops to these illegal sellers cannot be allowed to continue to profit. We welcome today’s action from all governments and agencies to stop vapes from ending up in the hands of illegal retailers, like tobacconists, to protect the health of Australians,” she said.
