• Highlights

• Electronic cigarette use increases, though cigarette, alcohol and illicit drugs have a drop in the consumption.
• 53.6% of teenagers interviewed have already experienced alcoholic beverages.
• Morning-after pill is the second most used method used to prevent teenage pregnancy.

Nearly 29.6% of students in public and private schools between 13 and 17 years old have already tried electronic cigarettes. Girls are more exposed to this initiation: 31.7%, compared to 27.4% among boys. Furthermore, 26.3% used the product in the last 30 days. On the other hand, the results indicate a reduction in the use of cigarettes, alcohol and illicit drugs between 2019 and 2024. The data are from the National Survey of School Health (PeNSE) 2024, released today (25) by the IBGE.

PeNSE 2024 surveyed smoking through questions that address the age of experimentation and recent use of cigarettes, hookahs, electronic cigarettes (vaper, pod, e-cigarette) and other forms of tobacco consumption, in addition to how to obtain the product and of indirect exposure.

Trials of electronic cigarettes rose from 16.8% in 2019 to 29.6% in 2024. This experimentation is more frequent among girls (31.7%) than boys (27.4%), and among students in public schools (30.4%) than those in private schools (24.9%). This growth was widespread throughout all the Brazilian Major Regions, with the Central-West (42.0%) and South (38.3%) regions remaining with the highest percentages and the Northeast (22.5%) and North (21.5%) regions with the lowest ones.

For the survey manager, Marco Andreazzi, electronic cigarettes today represent a great challenge that deserves to be faced. Even though its commercialization and consumption are prohibited in Brazil, experimentation and use of electronic cigarettes are expanding rapidly among teenagers. According to WHO assessments, this increase is due to a policy by tobacco producing companies, which invest massively in advertising aimed at teenagers and children for the use of electronic cigarettes. Despite the successes achieved with policy and campaigns to reduce cigarette consumption, electronic cigarettes are growing under false advertising that they are low in toxicity, with their smell and taste appealing to young people and children.”

Regarding the recent consumption of other tobacco products, measured by the type of tobacco product used in the 30 days prior to the survey, an important change is also observed, which increases by more than 300% in the case of electronic cigarettes and reduces by half for hookah consumption. While the number of students who declared that they did not use other tobacco products remained virtually unchanged (62.3% in 2024 and 61.7% in 2019).

Regarding cigarette experimentation, the percentage of students aged 13 to 17 years who had smoked cigarettes at some point in their lives was 18.5%, a drop compared to 2019 (22.6%). In relation to current cigarette use, surveyed through cigarette consumption 30 days prior to the survey, the results of PeNSE 2024 revealed a reduction from 6.8% in 2019 to 5.6% in 2024. The difference in this indicator for students in public (6.1%) and private (2.8%) education networks is important. On the other hand, the difference between the sexes was not statistically significant, with boys accounting for 5.9% and girls accounting for 5.3%. 

Girls still lead alcohol consumption among teenagers, even with the general decline in Brazil

Experimentation with alcoholic beverages among students aged 13 to 17 years reached 53.6%. The percentage varies according to age: it is 46.4% among young people aged 13 to 15 years and rises to 66.3% among those aged 16 and 17 years. The breakdown by sex shows that girls continue to have a higher prevalence of consumption. In 2024, 57.5% of them had already tried alcoholic drinks, compared to 49.7% of boys. Although the difference has decreased compared to 2019 (66.9% of girls and 59.6% of boys), the pattern of greater consumption among girls remains.

For recent consumption, measured by drinking alcoholic beverages on at least one day in the 30 days prior to the survey, there was a significant drop: from 28.1% in 2019 to 20.4% in 2024. Even so, girls remain ahead, with 23.5%, compared to 17.2% of boys. As for alcohol abuse, the percentage among men was 17.7%, and among women it was 24.2%, showing yet another reduction compared to 2019 (26.8% and 33.0%). These data suggest that Brazilian teenagers, in addition to drinking fewer alcoholic beverages, are drinking less intensely, with less alcohol abuse.

Early drug use drops among students

After a slight increase from 2015 to 2019 (13.0%), the result on drug experimentation was 8.3%, 5.7% in the private network and 8.7% in the public network. In relation to recent consumption, an important reduction was also observed, with a percentage of 3.1%, while this indicator was 5.1% in 2019.

Early drug use among students aged 13 to 17 years fell: 2.7% tried it for the first time by the age of 13, below the 4.3% recorded in 2019. Initiation is more frequent among boys (3.1%) than among girls (2.2%) and more common in public schools (3.0%) than in private schools (1.3%), indicating greater exposure to early experimentation among public school students.

Condom use drops among teenagers  

In 2024, 20.7% of students aged 13 to 15 years and 47.6% of those aged 16 and 17 years had already started their sexual life. Among these youngsters, 61.7% reported using a condom during their first intercourse, a drop of 1.6 percentage points compared to 2019. In the case of the last sexual intercourse, condom use also decreased, from 59.1% to 57.2%.

Among the contraceptive methods used to prevent pregnancy, the contraceptive pill was the most mentioned, with 51.1%. The morning-after pill appears next, with 11.7%. The “other methods” category added up to 15.0%, including both less widespread or disseminated options, such as implants, diaphragms, IUDs and adhesives (4.7%), as well as unconventional methods, such as calendars, coitus interruptus and other uninformed methods (10.3%). Furthermore, 11.6% of students said they had used injectable contraceptives in their last relationship.

The data also reveals the impact of teenage pregnancy: around 121 thousand girls aged 13 to 17 years have already become pregnant, which corresponds to 7.3% of those who have had sexual intercourse. Of this total, 98.7% are public school students. Inequality between education systems has increased: in 2019, the proportion of teenagers who had already become pregnant was almost three times higher in public schools compared to private ones; in 2024, this difference became eight times greater.