Last week, I announced first-ever national estimates, generated from new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, of U.S. e-cigarette users in 2014, almost 2 million of whom are former smokers.  Here, I provide more information about current e-cigarette use, especially in the context of current smoking.

The first chart shows the percentages of men and women in the United States who smoked in 2013 and 2014, along with e-cigarette use in 2014. Among men, smoking declined from 20.5 percent to 18.8 percent, despite the fact that 4.2 percent were e-cigarette users. Smoking among women also declined, although the drop wasn’t as strong. Overall, 3.4 percent of women currently used e-cigarettes in 2014.

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The remaining charts show e-cigarette and smoking rates for men and women ages 18-24, 25-44, 45-64 and 65+ years. Smoking declined among men at all ages, with the largest declines at 18-24 years (-16 percent), 45-64 years (-11 percent) and 65+ years (-9 percent). Among women, declines in smoking were only seen in those 18-24 years (-3 percent) and 45-64 years (-7 percent).

E-cigarette use among men was 5.8 percent at age 18-24 and was lower in each successive age group. The same pattern occurred among women, with 4.4 percent of 18-24 year olds vaping.

While prohibitionists insist that e-cigarettes will “renormalize” smoking and erase decades of progress, CDC data clearly show that smoking continued to decline in 2014 as e-cigarettes surge in popularity.

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