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National Youth Tobacco Survey: FDA Publishes Peer-Reviewed Journal Article, Releases 2025 Findings

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is sharing findings from the 2025 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) and announcing publication of a peer-reviewed article in Nicotine & Tobacco Research. FDA’s analysis of NYTS data shows that among U.S. students in middle school and high school, current use (defined as use on one or more days during the past 30 days) declined during 2022–2025 for tobacco products overall, combusted tobacco products, and e-cigarettes. Also, while the number of U.S. high school students reporting nicotine pouch use increased over the same time period, youth use of nicotine pouches remained low overall and was stable during 2024–2025. 

In 2025, about 2 million, or 7.2 percent, of U.S. high school and middle school students reported current use of any tobacco product. Additionally, 2.7 percent reported current use of multiple tobacco products, and 2.6 percent reported use of any combusted tobacco products. Among the youth surveyed, the most commonly used tobacco product categories are as follows: 

  • 5.2 percent reported current use of e-cigarette products 
  • 1.7 percent reported current use of nicotine pouch products 
  • 1.4 percent reported current use of cigarettes 

The new article, “Tobacco product use among middle and high school students in the United States: National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2025,” follows FDA’s public release of the 2024 and 2025 NYTS datasets and related materials earlier this year. 

Youth tobacco use is at historic lows, and FDA aims to keep it low through continued investments in educational efforts like “The Real Cost” prevention campaign and robust compliance and enforcement actions, such as the recent warning letters to retailers selling unauthorized tobacco products resembling candy, breath strips, and cough drops. Monitoring youth use of these products informs a key part of FDA’s product review process that authorizes new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, that can be beneficial, lower-risk options for adults who smoke. Central to this review is consideration of evidence of potential benefits and risks of the new product, as well as the strength of mitigation strategies to prevent youth use. For example, FDA recently authorized four flavored e-cigarette products that can only be used with device access restrictions, such as ID/age verification, smartphone pairing, and repeated biometric checks to make sure that the person using the product is 21 or older. 

The National Youth Tobacco Survey is an annual school-based survey, first conducted in 1999, that gathers information about tobacco use from students in grades 6 through 12 across the United States. The continued monitoring of this key information—such as the youth prevalence of e-cigarette, nicotine pouch, and cigarette use—can inform regulatory efforts and other areas of public health. FDA is leading the collection of the 2026 NYTS data, which is underway now, and recently issued a request for comments on the 2027-2029 NYTS data collection.

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