Over the past decade, e-cigarettes have grown rapidly, becoming the most popular consumer tobacco product category and the most common cigarette replacement product. But as it grew in popularity came a troublesome group of clients — curious minors. Regulators and lawmakers have used a variety of strategies to keep teens away from vaping products, by far the most common being to regulate the age at which vaping products can be purchased.
As with alcohol, imposing a minimum age for the sale of e-cigarettes is not a perfect solution, but it is the surest way to reduce teen vaping.
Legal age for e-cigarettes around the world
With the exception of countries that ban vaping and countries without vaping regulations, most countries simply use the legal age of majority to set the minimum age for purchasing vaping products.
Some countries have a national legal age, but allow states or provinces to set a higher legal age. For example, the national legal age for e-cigarettes in Canada is 18, but many provinces and territories set 19 as the allowable age for purchasing vaping products.
In Australia, it is illegal to sell nicotine-containing consumer products (other than cigarettes) without a doctor’s prescription, but non-nicotine e-cigarettes are allowed, and the age of purchase varies by state.
In the world’s largest e-cigarette market, the United States, the legal age for e-cigarette use is 21.
Countries where the legal age for e-cigarettes is 18:
Belgium
Bhutan
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
China
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Ecuador
England
salvador
Estonia
Fiji
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Israel
Italy
ivory coast
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Moldova
Netherlands
new Zealand
Norway
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Poland
Portugal
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Scotland
Senegal
Slovenia
South Africa
Sweden
Tajikistan
togo
Tuvalu
Ukraine
Vietnam
Wales
Countries where the legal age for e-cigarettes is 19:
Jordan
South Korea
Turkey
Countries where the legal age for e-cigarettes is 20:
Japan
Countries where the legal age for e-cigarettes is 21:
Ethiopia
Guam
Honduras
Niue
Republic of Palau
the Philippines
U.S.
