Youth smoke less tobacco and e-cigarettes than before

Young people are smoking tobacco less than they have in a generation, a new study showed.

A survey of U.S. high school and middle school students found that the decline in tobacco use stemmed from a drop in the number of kids using e-cigarettes, still the preferred product among youth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published Thursday. 

In 2024, 1 in 12 middle and high school students, or about 2.25 million youth, were estimated to have used a tobacco product in the last 30 days, compared to about 2.8 million children who said they smoked in 2023. The numbers were higher among high school students, 10% of whom said they regularly used tobacco products. Among middle school kids, 5% said they smoked tobacco.

The decline in recent years is considerable given that when the National Youth Tobacco Survey first began in 1999, about one-third of high school students used tobacco products, and 10% of middle school students smoked, said Kristy Marynak, a senior science adviser at the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. At that time, youth were largely smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco, since vaping didn’t exist yet.

Despite the good news, the work of anti-smoking campaigns is not over, Marynak told .

“We know that the tobacco industry continues to market youth-appealing products,” she said. “We really can’t rest.”

The percentage of children smoking cigarettes reached its lowest level since the survey began. Just 1.4% of students said they smoke them, the online survey, of nearly 30,000 students between January and May, found. Vaping has topped the list as the most popular method of using tobacco for the past 11 years. In 2024, 6% of youth said they vaped tobacco.

But the number of kids saying they vaped dropped from 2.1 million in 2023 to 1.6 million in 2024.

Nicotine pouches were the second-most popular form of tobacco children said they used, and there was an increase in white students using them, the CDC study showed. These pouches are about the size of a chiclet of gum and contain nicotine, an addictive chemical found in tobacco. They are often marketed as a product to help people concentrate, Marynak said.

Overall, 1.8% of students said they used pouches. These are becoming a popular alternative to smoking, said Dr. Vincent Mase, an assistant professor of thoracic surgery at Yale School of Medicine. In addition to being smokeless, they don’t require a person to spit out any waste and they have flavors like mint, citrus and berry. There is also less regulation of these products.

“They can be discrete,” Mase told . And these products are targeting younger audiences, he added: “It is something we need to be concerned about.”

While the overall number of children using tobacco declined, there was an increase in use among Native American and Alaska Native youth. The study noted ceremonial uses of tobacco in some Indigenous communities may limit findings. However, Marynak said the survey asked about specific commercial products, suggesting increases persisted among Indigenous youth outside of ceremonial use.

Black students also continued to report they smoked cigars, hookahs and cigarettes more often than their peers.

Marynak said experts are paying attention to smoking products, such as cigarettes, cigars and hookahs, because they are responsible for an overwhelming burden of tobacco-related disease and death.

“Continued vigilance is needed to continue to reduce all forms of tobacco product use among youth,” Brian King, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, said in a statement. “Addressing disparities remains an essential part of these efforts to ensure that we don’t leave anyone behind.”

The American Heart Association said the decline is encouraging because fewer children are becoming addicted to nicotine. The nonprofit expressed concern about the persistent use of e-cigarettes and new products, such as nicotine pouches.

The findings draw attention a “critical need for strong regulation to prohibit” tobacco companies from “targeting communities nationwide with harmful products once and for all,” Nancy Brown, CEO of the heart association, said in a statement.

The group urged the White House to finalize its rules for menthol cigarettes to halt the tobacco industry from disproportionate targeting of Black smokers, and called for the FDA to ban sales of other flavored tobacco products.

This story was updated to add new information.