In Germany, 14.9 per cent of 14 to 17-year-olds now smoke while just 2.3 per cent vape, new research reveals.
While most countries have seen a decline in smoking with more people turning to vaping to quit the more dangerous habit, Germany has seen the opposite trend.
The German Smoking Behaviour Survey (DEBRA) has looked at the consumption of tobacco and nicotine alternatives such as vapes in the German population since 2016.
Smoking has increased among all age groups
The latest data shows that the percentage of people who smoke has INCREASED across all age brackets over the last eight years, while the number vaping has remained much the same.
Most worryingly, the number of 14 to 17-year-olds who smoke has risen from 12.1 in 2016 to 14.9 per cent in 2024. Meanwhile the number who vape has stayed the same at 2.3 per cent.
Among 18 to 24-year-olds, 37.6 per cent now smoke - up from 35.3 per cent in 2016. The percentage of vapers has increased marginally to 4.2 per cent from 3.5 per cent.
And for those aged 25 and older, 34.4 per cent now smoke compared to 27.9 per cent in 2016. The number vaping has gone down to 1.4 per cent from 1.7 per cent.
In Germany, unlike most other countries, the use of vapes is not encouraged by health professionals as a quitting aid for smokers wanting to give up.
Overall, the percentage of people in Germany who smoke is currently 30 per cent.
As a comparison, in the UK the number of smokers has dropped by around half since 2010 - from 24.1 per cent to 12.5 per cent. This is in large part due to the National Health Service (NHS) encouraging smokers to use vapes to help them quit.
The German study has been conducted twice a month since 2016 by the Addiction Research and Clinical Epidemiology Department at the Institute of General Medicine at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
Dramatic decline in attempts to quit smoking
The research also found that the number of smokers attempting to quit smoking has declined dramatically in the eight years since the study started.
In 2016, 26.9 per cent of smokers had made “at least one serious attempt to quit in the previous 12 months”, compared to just 8.1 per cent in 2024.
The data comes as anti-vape groups in Germany are pushing for a ban on vape flavours, despite them having been proven to help smokers make the switch from cigarettes.
Anti-smoking campaigner Stop Blowing Smoke said: “For years, certain advocacy groups have completely ignored smoking and are actively pushing for a flavour ban on e-cigarettes, even to the detriment of adults.”
