{"id":37369,"date":"2026-05-13T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=37369"},"modified":"2026-05-13T09:00:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T09:00:59","slug":"new-zealands-smoking-rate-has-halved-in-six-years-with-vaping-a-major-reason-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/new-zealands-smoking-rate-has-halved-in-six-years-with-vaping-a-major-reason-why\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s smoking rate has halved in six years – with vaping a major reason why"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

New Zealand has cut its smoking rate almost in half in just six years, with vaping playing a central role in one of the world\u2019s fastest declines in cigarette use.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major new report<\/a> on global tobacco harm reduction says New Zealand\u2019s smoking rate fell to just 6.9 per cent in 2023\/24 after the government openly embraced vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report by Smoke Free Sweden, \u2018The Safer Nicotine Revolution: Global Lessons, Healthier Futures\u2019, points to New Zealand as one of the clearest real-world examples of vaping accelerating smoking decline when backed by supportive public health policy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Smoke Free Sweden<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoking rates collapsed as vaping rose<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, adult smoking prevalence in New Zealand dropped from 13.3 per cent in 2017\/18 to 6.9 per cent in 2023\/24, while vaping prevalence rose from 2.6 per cent to 11.1 per cent over the same period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors describe the shift as a \u201cvaping-driven cessation success\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike countries that treated vaping primarily as a threat, New Zealand formally recognised it as a harm reduction tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, the country passed the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Act, which explicitly aimed \u201cto support smokers to switch to regulated products that are significantly less harmful than smoking\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That legal recognition was paired with a government-backed \u201cVape To Quit Strong\u201d campaign and public information efforts explaining relative risk to smokers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u0101ori smoking rates also fell sharply<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The report highlights particularly dramatic declines among M\u0101ori communities, historically one of the groups hardest hit by smoking-related disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoking prevalence among M\u0101ori fell from 37.7 per cent in 2011\/12 to 14.7 per cent in 2023\/24. Pacific peoples also saw smoking rates drop from 22.6 per cent to 12.3 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report argues these outcomes challenge claims that harm reduction strategies only work for affluent or already health-engaged populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most daily vapers are former smokers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Far from displacing smoking cessation, the report says vaping in New Zealand appears to be strongly associated with people moving away from cigarettes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2021\/22, 78 per cent of daily vapers were ex-smokers or dual users – <\/p>\n\n\n\n

proving its effectiveness as a quitting aid,\u201d it says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report also cites the New Zealand Public Health Communication Centre, which said \u201cthe most plausible explanations for the observed changes in smoking prevalence\u2026 [include] growing use of [vapour products] resulting in increased quitting smoking among people who smoke and\/ or reduced uptake if young people substitute vaping for smoking\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falling hospitalisations and smoking-related disease<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The report says the reduction in smoking has already started showing up in broader health indicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 2017 and 2022, COPD-related hospitalisations among adults aged over 45 fell by almost 30 per cent, dropping from 645 per 100,000 people to 455 per 100,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also says New Zealand reduced smoking-related cardiovascular disease deaths and disability-adjusted life years by 20 per cent between 2009 and 2021. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared with the EU average, New Zealand recorded 40 per cent fewer smoking-related deaths overall, alongside sharply lower lung cancer and cardiovascular death rates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sharp contrast to Australia<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The report contrasts New Zealand\u2019s approach with neighbouring Australia, which introduced a prescription-only model for vaping products in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, Australia\u2019s more restrictive approach has fuelled black market growth while slowing smoking decline. \u201cEstimates share that 90 per cent of vapers in Australia access their products through the unregulated black market,\u201d<\/strong> it states.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Australia previously had lower smoking rates than New Zealand, the report says that trend has now reversed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The challenge now has moved from science to politics\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The wider report argues that countries embracing tobacco harm reduction are now producing measurable public health gains that are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge now has moved from science to politics,\u201d the authors write. \u201cWill global institutions and national governments be willing to rethink outdated approaches and embrace what works?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using case studies from New Zealand, Sweden, Japan and the UK, the report concludes that safer nicotine alternatives are helping drive faster declines in smoking than conventional tobacco control measures alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n

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New Zealand has cut its smoking rate almost in half in just six years, with vaping playing a central role in one of the world\u2019s fastest declines in cigarette use. A major new report on global tobacco harm reduction says New Zealand\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":37376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[344,334,342,186,333],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-37369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-australia","tag-global","tag-new-zealand","tag-nicotine","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37383,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37369\/revisions\/37383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37369"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=37369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}