New data showed a continued decline in cigarette and tobacco sales, which Associate Health Minister Casey Costello said was encouraging and consistent with the long-term fall in smoking rates.
The latest annual tobacco returns showed the volume of tobacco sold in New Zealand fell by more than 20 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year and has more than halved over the past decade.
Since 2010, the volume of tobacco sold here has reduced by two-thirds, and the number of cigarettes sold per capita is down nearly 80 percent.
“The one concerning aspect of the figures is what appears to be an accelerated decline in the sale of legal tobacco products in the last few years. It would be great if that reflected a corresponding decline in smoking rates, but it is likely that it is also to do with the availability of black-market cigarettes," said Costello.
"It’s harder to encourage people to quit or use alternatives like vapes when they can get their hands on cheap cigarettes, which is why I asked Customs, Police, Health New Zealand, and the Ministry of Health to join forces to better tackle the illegal tobacco trade.”
The Minister said the Government was focused on three key areas to reduce the harm from smoking: cracking down on illegal cigarette sales, preventing young people from starting smoking, and providing support to help current smokers quit
Progress on youth prevention
Compliance and enforcement
The Government’s law changes to ban disposable vapes, put in display restrictions and increase penalties for underage tobacco and vape sales came into effect a year ago and have been backed by a significant increase in enforcement activity.
- Health NZ completed 6,313 compliance visits and 4,922 controlled purchase operations (CPO’s) of both Tobacco and Vape Retailers (11,235 total) between 1 July 2025 and 31 June 2026.
This is a 50 percent increase in compliance activity from 2024/25. - By the 31st of June 2026, Smokefree Enforcement Officers visited 3851 stores and completed 368 CPO’s, focusing on the June 2025 amendments. As a result, 228 Compliance letters were issued, and 157 infringement files were prepared, indicating a compliance rate of 91 percent.
Smokefree promotion
Health New Zealand’s long‑standing partnership with Smokefreerockquest and Smokefree Tangata Beats to embed smokefree messages in youth culture was extended this year for a further three years to 2028.
Participation has almost doubled over 20 years, rising from 550 acts in 2005 to 1,010 in 2025, and again to 1,102 acts in 2026, and the events reached more than 17,000 people last year
“Youth smoking rates are already very low, so this is about reaching young people early, in places where they connect to reinforce that not smoking is the right choice."
Helping smokers quit
Providing smokers the right information, tools and support to help them quit is critical.
Health NZ has recently updated its website to provide trusted information on smoking and vaping for anyone who wants it. This week it updated the national stop smoking clinical guidelines to support GPs and other professionals in their conversations with patients who smoke and to provide pathways to stop smoking support.
There have also been a number of initiatives to improve the effectiveness of stop smoking providers, particularly targeting high-risk communities, including targeted marketing, increased use of incentives to quit, and the provision of Health NZ‑funded vape kits.
In the first four months of the year, over three‑quarters of those who used the kits as a stop-smoking tool achieved a verified four‑week quit.
“Smoking remains one of the most harmful and preventable causes of illness and early death in New Zealand. Vaping is significantly less harmful than smoking and can be an effective cessation tool for people who smoke. Our efforts remain firmly focused on reducing smoking harm," said Costello.
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