Since the advent of e-cigarettes , the number of vape users around the world has exploded everywhere. Vapers sometimes feel lonely because they think that no one shares their hobby. Smokers, on the other hand, can easily socialize with anyone.
Vapers don’t have that advantage, and it’s common for them to not have many friends or acquaintances who vape . Fortunately, vaping is more mainstream now, and vapers automatically belong to a global group with millions of members.
And how many people are in this club? How many vapers are there in the world today? That's what we wanted to find out.
How many vapers are there in the world?
Coming up with an estimate of the number of e-cigarette users worldwide is harder than you might think. The vaping market changes daily, laws in some countries change suddenly which can affect the number of people vaping, and some countries have seen rapid growth in just a few years.
To get the most accurate estimate, we calculated based on reliable data from the CDC and Euromonitor International. From these sources, we know:
According to the CDC, there are currently about 9 million vapers in the United States.
According to Euromonitor International, the US accounts for 43.2% of the world's total vapers.
Based on these figures, we can estimate that there are about 20.8 million vapers in the world.
While the number of vapers worldwide continues to grow, what's interesting is how many vapers we have in each place, and how the laws and people's views there affect the vaper population.
How many vapers are there in North America?
North America consists of three countries with three different vape markets and regulations.
The US is the largest vaping market, with over 9 million vapers spending an estimated $3.7 billion on vaping products. The CDC estimates that about 3.7% of adults in the country use e-cigarettes. Vaping laws vary across US states. However, under federal law, vaping products are regulated like tobacco products.
The vaping market in Canada is estimated to be between 308,000 and 946,000 vapers. This number is based on data on frequent and occasional vaping users from the University of Waterloo. Canada has few laws regulating vaping, and most are at the provincial or municipal level. This means that in some provinces, vapers are completely unrestricted in where they can vape, while other provinces require vaping products to be regulated like tobacco.
It is not known how many vapers there are in Mexico. What we do know is that vaping laws there are confusing. You can vape freely in Mexico, but there are very strict laws on the sale, distribution, production, and advertising of non-tobacco products, including vaping products.
How many vapers are there in Europe?
The vape market in Europe is huge, but it is only operated by a few countries within the bloc.
The fastest growing vaping market in Europe is the UK, with around 2.8 million vapers. This is a fourfold increase from 700,000 in 2012. In the UK, e-cigarettes are the fastest growing supermarket product in terms of both volume and value, growing by 50% annually, with around 17.3 million units sold last year.
Russia has over 1.5 million vapers. It was relatively late to the game, with the first vape shop opening in Russia in 2014. Since then, there have been over 500 vape shops in Moscow alone, and 1,400 across Russia. Similarly, Germany is now home to over 2 million vapers, a number that is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace in the near future.
Other countries in the European bloc with positive e-cigarette usage figures include:
France: A nationwide survey conducted by France's Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction found that between 7.7 and 9.2 million French people have tried e-cigarettes.
Italy: Although vaping rates in the country dropped slightly between 2014 and 2015, 2016 saw a rebound. There are an estimated 2.34 million vapers, with about 1.38 million regular users.
Finland: There are about 1.5 million vapers in Finland, who spend about $129 million on vape products each year.
How many vapers are there in Asia?
Asia is the most populous continent in the world with 4.15 billion inhabitants, four times the population of Africa. Therefore, even though the US has the highest penetration density, Asia still has more vapers than any other continent.
Surprisingly, the largest vaping market in Asia is in Malaysia. There are currently around 1 million vapers in Malaysia, and they spend $117 million on vaping products each year. The rapid growth of the market is due to the fact that the laws here are still loose, allowing distributors to sell and advertise their products without pressure from the government. However, things have changed since the government started to ban and regulate vaping.
Japan’s vaping community is relatively small, but it has the highest annual growth rate. In 2016, vaping products brought in $4.6 million in revenue for Japan. That may be small compared to larger markets, but it’s still five times the revenue from previous years.
China, the “homeland” of many famous vape device brands, has a very small vape community. Although the number of users is low, the market potential is extremely large because this country still has no laws to manage the vape market and it is easy to import products. In a country with a population of 1.37 billion people, 1% is equivalent to 13 million vapers.
So how many vapers are there? Answer, a lot.
It’s impossible to put an exact number on how many vapers there are. What we do know, however, is that there are a lot of people vaping today! No matter how you try to hide it, the data will show you share your hobby with at least 20 million people worldwide. Not bad for an industry that’s roughly the same age as the iPhone.
