GENEVA (Realist English). The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the rapid spread of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches is fuelling a new generation of addiction, estimating that at least 15 million children now use e-cigarettes worldwide.
In a new report released Monday, the UN agency said that one in five adults, or 1.2 billion people, still use tobacco products globally — a decline from 1.38 billion in 2000. But it cautioned that the tobacco industry has “introduced an incessant chain of new products and technologies” to recruit younger users rather than help smokers quit.
“E-cigarettes are fuelling a new wave of nicotine addiction,” said Etienne Krug, a WHO department director. “They are marketed as harm reduction but, in reality, are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.”
According to the report, at least 86 million adults — mainly in high-income countries — use e-cigarettes, alongside millions of minors. In countries with available data, children are on average nine times more likely to vape than adults.
The WHO said aggressive marketing and flavour-based branding have made e-cigarettes appealing to teenagers, even in countries where vaping is legally restricted. The agency urged governments to raise taxes, tighten regulations, and ban advertising of tobacco and e-cigarette products.
“Countries now face a double challenge — tobacco and e-cigarettes,” said Alison Commar, the report’s lead author. “We see in every country and region that very young children have access to vapes. There is no place with zero prevalence, even among 13-year-olds.”
Medical studies cited in the report have linked e-cigarette use to damage to blood vessels and lung function, warning that nicotine — while free of tar and carbon monoxide — still harms brain development and fosters long-term dependency.
The WHO’s findings sparked backlash from major tobacco companies. British American Tobacco’s chief corporate officer, Kingsley Wheaton, said the agency had ignored the contribution of “smokeless” products to declining smoking rates.
Still, the WHO maintained that the industry’s pivot to vaping and nicotine pouches represents a strategic rebranding of addiction.
In the United Kingdom, where selling vapes to anyone under 18 is illegal, an NHS England study last year found that 25% of 11- to 15-year-olds had tried vaping, and nearly one in ten did so regularly. Meanwhile, nicotine pouches — small flavoured sachets placed under the lip — remain largely unregulated.
The WHO said the global fight against tobacco now hinges on governments’ ability to close legal loopholes, curb advertising, and prevent nicotine products from becoming the next public health crisis.
