According to newly released data from the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), in 2024, 2.25 million middle and high school students (8.1% of all students) reported current use (use on one or more days during the past 30 days) of any tobacco product, compared to 2.8 million in 2023—a decrease of at least half a million students in the past year. The decline can be largely attributed to a significant drop in the number of students who reported current e-cigarette use (2.13 million youth in 2023 compared to 1.63 million youth in 2024).
Within the past year, a significant decline also occurred in current hookah use (290,000 in 2023 compared to 190,000 in 2024), the survey found. Cigarette smoking reached the lowest level ever recorded by the survey, with only 1.4% of students reporting current use in 2024.
Youth e-cigarette use declined to the lowest level in a decade, but e-cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco product (5.9%) among youth who reported current tobacco product use. This trend has held for the 11th year in a row. More than 1 in 4 (26.3%) of current youth e-cigarette users use an e-cigarette product daily.
In 2024, nicotine pouches became the second most commonly used tobacco product among youth (1.8%), followed by cigarettes (1.4%), cigars (1.2%), smokeless tobacco (1.2%), other oral nicotine products (1.2%), heated tobacco products (0.8%), hookahs (0.7%) and pipe tobacco (0.5%), according to the report.
“The report also found varying progress across population groups: during 2023-2024, current use of any tobacco product, e-cigarettes and multiple tobacco products all significantly declined among female students, and current use of any tobacco product, e-cigarettes, cigars, hookahs and multiple tobacco products declined among Hispanic students,” said a spokesperson for the Center for Tobacco Products in an email. “In contrast, during 2023-2024, current use of any tobacco product, e-cigarettes, oral nicotine products, any combustible tobacco product and multiple tobacco products all increased among American Indian or Alaska Native students, and current use of nicotine pouches increased among White students. No significant changes occurred in current use of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, heated tobacco products and pipe tobacco for all assessed race and ethnicity groups.”
“We must remain committed to public health efforts to ensure all youth can live healthy, tobacco-free lives,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, Ph.D., M.P.H., director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.