How many people vape? The 2026 numbers for Great Britain

ASH's Smokefree GB survey, published in July 2026, puts adult vaping in Great Britain at 10.3%. That works out at roughly 5.5 million people. If you vape, roughly one adult in ten around you does too.

The survey covers Great Britain, so England, Scotland and Wales. It is the most widely quoted annual snapshot of who vapes and how, which is why we use it here rather than piecing figures together from elsewhere.

The headline number is interesting, but the detail underneath it tells you far more about how vaping has changed, especially since the disposable ban in June 2025.

Tanks are the most common main device, used by 48% of vapers. Pod kits are close behind at 42%. Disposables, once everywhere, are down to 8%.

That near-even split between tanks and pods is worth noticing. Tanks give you control over power, airflow and coils, and suit people who like a bigger vape. Pod kits are smaller, simpler and closer to what ex-disposable users are used to.

Both live in our range: browse vape kits for either, or read what you can still buy after the ban for a side-by-side comparison.

The change in two or three years is striking. In 2023, disposables were the main device for 31% of vapers. In 2024, only 15% said a pod kit was their main device.

Then single-use vapes were banned from sale on 1 June 2025. By July 2026, pods had jumped to 42% and disposables had fallen to 8%. Most former disposable users seem to have moved straight across to pod kits, which makes sense: they are the closest thing in feel and effort.

The timeline below lines up the survey figures with the ban.

Flavour is where adult vapers are most consistent. ASH's 2026 survey found fruit flavours are the most used, at 60%. Menthol or mint comes next at 15%, then tobacco at 9%.

Those numbers matter in the context of the recent consultation on packaging, which proposed simpler flavour names but did not propose banning flavours. Nothing has changed in law, and our packaging rules guide explains what was suggested.

If you are in the fruity 60%, you have plenty of company, and plenty of choice across our e-liquids.

One figure from the survey stands out. 52% of smokers think vaping is as harmful as smoking, or more harmful.

That is out of step with the NHS, which says "Nicotine vaping is less harmful than smoking" and that vaping "poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking". The NHS is also clear that "Children and non-smokers should never vape."

We are not here to persuade anyone to vape, just to point at the sources. Our guide to what the NHS actually says has every line word for word.

One question to see which number stuck. It is the one most people guess wrong, because pod kits get so much attention that it is easy to assume they are already the most common device.

They are not quite there. Tanks still edge it at 48% against pods at 42%, though the gap has narrowed fast as former disposable users moved over. If the trend from 2024 to 2026 carries on, next year's survey could look different again. We will update these figures when ASH publishes its next survey, so this page stays the place to check.