Vape Sector Boosts UK Economy

The vaping industry has had a positive impact on the UK economy, according to a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) on behalf of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA).

In 2021, the UK vaping sector was valued at £2.8 billion ($3.36 billion) and supported almost 18,000 full-time jobs in retail, manufacturing, and the supply chain.

The report also found that smokers who switched to e-cigarettes saved the National Health Service (NHS) over £300 million in 2019 alone. In the same year, the vaping industry saved the UK £322 million in smoking-related healthcare costs, and increased economic productivity by £1.3 billion. If 50% of UK smokers switched to vaping, the potential healthcare savings could have reached £698 million in 2020, and the increase in economic productivity could reach £3.33 billion.

“The findings of the vaping industry’s first ever economic impact report demonstrates its significant success as a fast-growing disruptive sector,” says Owen Good, CEBR's head of economic advisory.

“Whilst many high street retailers have suffered in recent years, the vaping sector has bucked the trend, with significant growth both in-store and online. Even the effects of the pandemic have not significantly hampered the sector’s growth.

“The sector’s growth has been hugely beneficial to the U.K. economy; businesses and their employees directly involved in the industry and those running operations across the wider supply chain; and the NHS, which has seen a massive cost saving with increasing numbers of smokers switching to vaping in order to quit their habits.”

“In little over a decade, vaping in the U.K. has grown from very much a ‘cottage industry’ to one of the fastest growing sectors in not just retail but the whole economy,” said John Dunne, Director General of the UKVIA.

“More people than ever are vaping, and by all measures, this is a true British success story, creating employment and wealth, generating precious revenue for the government through taxation while at the same time saving the NHS more than £300 million a year through people switching from smoking to vaping.”