New Zealand has just recorded the lowest smoking rates in the country’s history.
Ten years ago, when there was no vaping, 16.4 percent of the population were daily smokers.
Four years later, in 2016, when e-cigarettes were beginning to catch on, the smoking rate had dropped by two percentage points.
In what is being hailed as an enormous win for vaping, in every year that followed, as vaping became more popular the numbers of smokers continued to decline.
The European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates said: “The latest data on smoking and vaping prevalence in New Zealand has revealed that smoking rates have fallen from 11.9 percent in 2020 to 9.4 percent in 2021.
“This historic fall in smoking correlates with an increase in vaping.”
Advocates say it is no concidence that the NZ government’s decision to regulate vaping as a smoking cessation product has encouraged record numbers of smokers to quit.
Tobacco harm reduction advocate David P Forsyth said: “This is more evidence that vaping is a direct substitute for smoking.”
New Zealand’s Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act has measures to protect children while allowing adult smokers to access the best quitting tool ever invented.
The data was revealed in the country’s latest Public Health Survey and, if the trend continues, will give a huge boost for New Zealand’s 2025 smokefree ambitions.
The survey also revealed that quit smoking attempts had increased to 19 percent – a jump from 13.4 percent in the previous survey.
There was a dramatic increase in quit rates among all ethnic groups, particularly among Māori and Pacific populations.
