Youth vaping in New Zealand

Rates drop among younger students, but challenges remain

The 2024 Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ /SPANZ/NZAIMS Youth Survey, reveals significant progress in reducing youth vaping in New Zealand. Among students in Years 9 to 13, 12% reported vaping in the past seven days, a marked drop from 27% in 2021.

The survey also shows that 3 per cent of Year 7 and 8 students had vaped in the last seven days. This is the first survey to look at the prevalence of vaping across both intermediate and secondary schools, including students as young as 10 years old.

According to Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ (ARFNZ) Chief Executive Letitia Harding the decline is likely due to tighter regulations and effective educational initiatives.

Both Life Education and ARFNZ have active education programmes in schools including  Behind the Scenes which is designed for year 7 -11 students and explores the health risks of vaping.

However, despite the overall reduction, vaping among older students has increased. Among Year 13 students, 26% reported vaping in the last seven days, up from 13% in 2021.

The survey reveals concerning health impacts among young people who vape. Nearly half of respondents who vaped in the past week reported health issues, with 23% vaping daily and 42% several times a day. Alarmingly, some students admitted to waking during the night to vape.

Māori students had the highest weekly vaping rates, nearly double those of NZ European students, followed by Pacific students.

This report comes out alongside the Health NZ survey. The report noted that vaping prevalence among 15–17-year-olds has dropped since last year but remains higher than two years ago, with 32.1% of 15–17-year-olds have tried vaping (29.6% male, 35% female). This is a decrease from 38.4% in 2022/23 but still above 30.4% in 2021/22.

Life Education independent research (Research NZ) notes that 35% of primary school teachers who responded in 2024 considered vaping an issue at school and 77% of secondary school teachers. Within the substances strand of health education, vaping continues to be a popular request by schools.

Life Education will continue to support teachers in primary and secondary schools in 2025 with both the Healthy Harold programme and Behind the Scenes to educate tamariki and rangatahi on the impacts of vaping. More than 50,000 students have participated in the Behind the Scenes programme since its launch in 2022. In 2024, 17,688 students took part.