Drop in conventional smoking offset by rise in e-cigarettes and liquids, particularly among youth, women

Liquid e-cigarettes are displayed at a vape shop in Seoul on April 24. [YONHAP]

Korea is smoking less — and yet it is barely making a dent in its tobacco problem. A surge in e-cigarette use, particularly among young adults and women, is effectively canceling out the decline in conventional cigarette smoking, according to government data released Sunday.

Data by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), released on World No Tobacco Day, showed that the adult smoking rate for conventional cigarettes fell to 17.9 percent last year, down one percentage point from the previous year. But use of heated tobacco products and liquid e-cigarettes rose to 6.3 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively. Over the seven years since e-cigarette statistics were first collected in 2019, the use rate for heated tobacco products has climbed 90.9 percent, while liquid e-cigarette use has risen 73.1 percent.

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Overall tobacco product use stood at 22.1 percent last year. Among tobacco users, one in five, or 21.3 percent, reported using two or more types of tobacco products simultaneously, a pattern more common among younger users.