PETALING JAYA: A global tobacco survey has revealed a 600% surge in e-cigarette usage in Malaysia over the past 12 years.
According to the 2023 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), 5.8% of Malaysian adults now use e-cigarettes, marking a substantial increase from less than 1% in 2011.
It also revealed that dual usage has increased, with around 3.9% of Malaysian adults now using both tobacco and e-cigarettes.
“This is more than a 400% increase compared to 2011 when dual users were only 0.8%,” it read.
The survey said e-cigarette usage is prevalent among younger age groups, notably those aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 44.
Despite widespread awareness of anti-cigarette campaigns, GATS indicated that less than half of adults (44.4%) noticed e-cigarette use information on various media.
Among these, 31.3% encountered information on the internet, 30.5% on television and 22.6% on posters.
The survey said the marketing of e-cigarettes appears to be more prominent compared to tobacco products, with 40.5% encountering e-cigarette ads, while only 23.5% encountered tobacco ads.
Both types of users reported encountering marketing materials mostly online.
GATS covers more than 30 countries globally.
Conducted by the health ministry, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, the survey in Malaysia covered 5,780 households across all states, over a two-month period. The respondents were aged 15 and above.
