OECD report disingenuous in focus on vaping rates while disregarding positive impact on smoking rates

Media coverage of the OECD Health at a Glance report suggests New Zealand’s vaping numbers are increasing way faster than other countries. This is not true and the focus on New Zealand’s vaping rates while ignoring its impact on smoking rates feels a bit disingenuous.

Yes – 8.3% of New Zealanders are vaping, but the number of people vaping is only part of the picture. Ministry of Health statistics show smoking has dropped to an all-time low of 8% (2021/22), approximately half what it was 10 years ago (16.4% in 2011/12). With vaping rates now at 8.3% what we are seeing is a clear switch by smokers to vaping as overall we still have 16.3% of the population either smoking or vaping.

This is good news because smoking rates are falling faster than ever before. Also, good news is that the overall number of people either smoking or vaping is not increasing.

This positive impact of vaping on smoking is also present in Estonia which had smoking rates of 29.7% in 2020. By 2021 smoking numbers had dropped to 20% as vaping numbers rose to 10.4%, with the total smoking and vaping population remaining static at around 30%. These numbers clearly show the inverse relationship between vaping and smoking. Or put another way, vaping is finally succeeding where all other smoking cessation tools have failed.

Conversely the OECD report points out smoking rates in Turkey have increased by 2%. When you consider the sale of e-cigarettes is banned in Turkey, and smoking rates are continuing to rise (29.3% in 2023) this provides strong evidence that banning vaping simply encourages people to continue smoking. Prohibition has long been a pathway to failure, closer to home Australia, which has taken a hard line prescription only stance towards vaping, is now battling a thriving black market for both tobacco and vaping. With youth vaping rates of 14.5% health advocates are outspoken that the approach is not working, frequently pointing to New Zealand and the UK’s regulatory framework as a far more progressive way to achieve smokefree outcomes.

Vaping has caused significant disruption to the smoking industry, it has in fact been around for over 20 years but prior to the evolution and uptake of the modern-style products on sale today, no other single stop smoking innovation had managed to have an impact on smoking.