More than a million people in the UK who have never smoked are now vaping.

That's the headline from the latest Office for National Statistics figures, reported by the BBC this week. For the second year running, more people in Great Britain vape (5.4 million) than smoke, and smoking across the UK has fallen to 4.9 million people.

Fewer people smoking is good news. Smoking is still the biggest cause of preventable death in the UK.

The addiction changed shape

After more than 20 years helping people stop smoking and vaping, this result is exactly what we expected. Promoting vapes as the way out of smoking was a public policy decision, and at Allen Carr's Easyway we said repeatedly that it was a mistake.

When you treat nicotine addiction with nicotine, the addiction stays. It just changes shape. The device gets smaller, the flavour gets sweeter, and now it's reaching people who never smoked at all.

Every vaper I meet made a sensible choice with the information they were given. Many picked up a vape because they wanted to be free of cigarettes. That wish for freedom is exactly the right instinct.

Closer to home

New Zealand followed a similar path to the UK, with vaping encouraged as a stepping stone towards Smokefree 2025. The 2024/25 New Zealand Health Survey shows where that has led. Daily vaping reached 11.7% of adults, around 509,000 people, up from 3.5% in 2019/20. Daily smoking sat at 6.8%, still above the Smokefree 2025 goal of less than 5%.

Put those together and 17.1% of adults smoked and/or vaped daily, up from 14.5% five years earlier. Fewer cigarettes, more nicotine.

Those half a million daily vapers are the very people this policy set out to help. What they deserve is a way out that leaves nicotine behind completely.

Why the desire goes

In seminar rooms, I've seen the same thing again and again. People keep using nicotine because they believe it gives them something: calm, focus, a break, a reward. Once someone sees that nicotine only relieves the restlessness it created in the first place, the desire goes. There's no substitute to find and nothing to cut down.

That's the heart of Allen Carr's Easyway. We question the beliefs that keep people hooked, so stopping feels like a release rather than a sacrifice. Every facilitator was once a smoker or vaper who found freedom with the method, so you're talking with someone who has been exactly where you are.

My own turning point

That was my experience in 2003. Before then, I'd never lasted more than about a day and a half. What changed was understanding the trap I was in. Once I saw it clearly, I simply didn't want nicotine anymore. More than 20 years on, that feeling of freedom is still with me every day.

The next step

Half of the UK's smokers say they want to stop, and the UK's new law is building a smoke-free generation. New Zealand has led the world on tobacco control before, and it can lead again. The next step is freedom from nicotine itself.

Smoke-free is progress. Nicotine-free is freedom.

If you smoke or vape and you're curious about life on the other side, explore our Live Online seminars and find the one that suits you. Whenever you're ready, we're here.

Sources: BBC: One million UK people who have never smoked are now vaping · Ministry of Health: Annual update of key results 2024/25 New Zealand Health Survey · Public Health Communication Centre: Vaping prevalence and trends 2024/25