This World No Tobacco Day, the focus falls on how the industry hooks young people, with new data showing teenagers now vape far more than adults.
Every year on May 31, the World Health Organization marks World No Tobacco Day to draw attention to the health and economic costs of tobacco use. The 2026 theme is “Unmasking the appeal, countering nicotine and tobacco addiction.” According to the WHO, the campaign sets out to expose how the tobacco and nicotine industry keeps reinventing and repackaging its products to recruit a new generation, especially children and teenagers.
The message lands differently this year. For the first time, the numbers show that the youngest users are leading the trend, not following it.
In October 2025, the WHO released its first global estimate of vaping. It found that around 100 million people now vape worldwide. That figure includes at least 86 million adults, most of them in high-income countries, and almost 15 million children aged 13 to 15.
The detail that stood out was the gap between age groups. The WHO reported that about 1.9 percent of adults vape, compared with 7.2 percent of teenagers aged 13 to 15. Based on the available data, the organization said vaping among 13 to 15-year-olds runs on average nine times higher than the rate among adults.
The report’s authors wrote that adolescents are generally using the products at a higher rate than adults. They added that this was not surprising given how aggressively the industry targets children and young people, including through digital channels that remain under-regulated. The WHO also warned that the figures for teenagers are almost certainly an undercount.
Etienne Krug, who directs the WHO’s department on health determinants, promotion, and prevention, said e-cigarettes are fueling a new wave of nicotine addiction. He said the products are marketed as harm reduction but in reality are hooking children on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.
The wider picture explains why the industry has pivoted. The WHO said global tobacco users dropped from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. As cigarette sales fell, companies leaned into vapes, nicotine pouches, and synthetic nicotine devices to keep users coming.
Unmasking the Appeal of Flavored Nicotine Products
The “appeal” in this year’s theme refers to design and marketing, not the product itself. The WHO points to sleek packaging, bright colors, cartoon-style branding, and a flood of flavors as the tools used to make harmful products look fun and harmless.
Flavors sit at the center of the strategy. The WHO has noted that the market now offers more than 16,000 flavors, from fruit and mint to candy and cotton candy. On World No Tobacco Day 2025, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said flavors were fueling a new wave of addiction and should be banned, as reported by The News.
Pakistan offers a clear example of how fast these products spread. Research published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research in January 2026 found that within five years of their introduction, Pakistan had become the third-largest market for Velo, a leading nicotine pouch brand. The study, which surveyed more than 700 points of sale across all four provinces, found that Velo held about 85 percent of the local market and sold for as little as 100 rupees a pack.
The researchers raised concerns about placement. Many outlets stocked the pouches at a child’s eye level, some operated within 200 meters of schools, and a number positioned the products near candy displays. The authors said these tactics risk normalizing nicotine use among young people and called for urgent regulation, noting that nicotine pouches remain largely unregulated in Pakistan and are sold as ordinary consumer goods.
Responses vary by country. The WHO says that as of late 2025, more than 50 countries had banned flavored tobacco products and over 40 had banned e-cigarette sales entirely. In Pakistan, the Punjab government moved to ban e-cigarettes, vapes, and nicotine pouches over concerns about youth use.
The UAE takes a regulated approach. E-cigarettes have been legal since 2019, and Federal Law No. 15 of 2009 governs tobacco control, including vapes. Sales to anyone under 18 are illegal, advertising is restricted, and use is banned in enclosed public spaces, schools, and healthcare facilities. The sale of candy that resembles cigarettes is also prohibited.
The WHO’s call this year is for governments to close policy gaps through flavor bans, plain packaging, advertising restrictions, higher taxes, and stronger support for quitting. As the campaign puts it, the grip of nicotine addiction can be broken with the right tools and information.
