Overview

• The report estimates at least 86 million adult users, concentrated largely in high-income countries.
• WHO finds children aged 13–15 use e-cigarettes about nine times more often than adults.
• The agency says e-cigarettes are marketed as harm reduction but are drawing children into early nicotine use.
• Etienne Krug, a WHO director, describes e-cigarettes as driving a new wave of dependence that risks reversing decades of gains.
• In parallel findings, WHO reports global smoking rates fell 27% over 15 years yet urges governments to regulate new nicotine products, close youth-targeting loopholes, raise taxes, curb advertising, and expand quitting support.