Smoking rates have fallen but e-cigarette use has tripled in recent years, along with the number of young women consuming risky levels of alcohol and drugs.

February 29, 2024

The number of Australians smoking cigarettes continues to fall but vaping, alcohol and some illicit drugs are growing in popularity, a survey has found.

E-cigarette use was most common among 18 to 24-year-olds and increased substantially from 5.3 per cent in 2019 to 21 per cent in 2022-23, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says.

Older Australians were the most likely to smoke tobacco and younger people were more likely to vape, the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022-2023 of more than 21,000 people found.

Overall, vaping among those aged 14 and over increased from 2.5 per cent in 2019 to seven per cent in 2022-23, spokeswoman Gabrielle Phillips said.

Fewer than 10 per cent of Australians smoke tobacco daily, but it continues to be the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the nation.

Smoking rates among people aged 14 and over were found to have dropped by two-thirds from 24 per cent in 1991 to 8.3 per cent in 2022-23.

The number of people who have never smoked continues to rise, up from 49 per cent in 1991 to 65 per cent in 2022-23.

The survey also asked people about their attitudes toward and use of alcohol and illicit drugs.

Alcohol remains the most commonly used drug in Australia, with 77 per cent of those surveyed reporting they consumed some in the previous year.

“Despite updated guidelines to reduce alcohol-related harms, the proportion of people in Australia who drink alcohol at risky levels has not changed since 2019,” Dr Phillips said.

About one-third or 31 per cent of Australians consume alcohol in ways that put their health at risk in 2022-2023, which was similar to 2019 when 32 per cent of people were found to do so.

Risky alcohol consumption increased among women aged 18 to 24, narrowing the gap between young men and women.

In 2022-23, 45 per cent of young men consumed alcohol at risky levels compared with 40 per cent of young women, the smallest gap seen since 2001 and up from 35 per cent of women in 2019.

Like vaping, the use of some illicit drugs has also grown in recent years.

Hallucinogen use increased from 1.6 per cent to to 2.4 per cent between 2019 and 2022-2023 and Ketamine use rose from 0.9 per cent to 1.4 per cent among those aged 14 and over.

In 2022-23, 18 per cent or 3.9 million Australians aged 14 and over reported using illicit drugs within the past 12 months, with almost half, 47 per cent having used one in their lifetime.

The level of use of some illicit drugs remained stable between 2019 and 2022-23, including cannabis (11.5 per cent) and cocaine (4.5 per cent).

Ecstasy use fell from three per cent to 2.1 per cent and non-medical use of pain-relievers and opioids also decreased from 2.7 per cent to 2.2 per cent.

Men had historically been more likely to use illicit drugs than women but in 2022-23 the survey found both sexes were as likely as each other to use drugs, Dr Phillips said.

The use of illicit drugs by women aged 18 to 24 increased from 27 per cent in 2019 to 35 per cent in 2022-23 but remained stable among men in the same age group at 35 per cent.

Cannabis use by women aged 18 to 24 increased substantially, up from 20 per cent in 2019 to 26 per cent in 2022-2023.

Cocaine use by women also grew from eight per cent to 11.9 per cent.