Nicotine pouch statistics: New Zealand
Sourced figures on nicotine pouch awareness, use, law and the wider market, collected for journalists, students and researchers. Each number links to the document it came from, with the survey population and year beside it. Where New Zealand data does not exist, this page says so.
- Key figures
- Awareness and use
- Legal status
- Public opinion
- Smoking and vaping
- Global market
- Order data
- What is not measured
- Cite this page
Key figures
Awareness and use in New Zealand
The only published New Zealand prevalence figures come from the New Zealand arm of the ITC Youth and Young Adult Tobacco and Vaping Survey, reported by the Public Health Communication Centre (University of Otago) in August 2025. Fieldwork for the 2024 wave ran in August and September 2024.
| Measure | Youth 16–19, 2023 | Youth 16–19, 2024 | Adults 20–29, 2023 | Adults 20–29, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aware of nicotine pouches | 23% | 36% | 30% | 48% |
| Ever used a pouch | 4% | 5% | 6% | 10% |
| Used in the past 30 days | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| Sample size | N = 852 | N = 2,020 | ||
Source: Ball J, Reid J, Hammond D, Waa A, Pettie M, Hoek J. Nicotine pouches and young people: Evidence from Aotearoa New Zealand, Public Health Expert Briefing, 7 August 2025, Appendix Table A1. The authors report the rise in awareness in both groups and the rise in ever-use among young adults as statistically significant; the change in youth ever-use was not.
Why young people say they use pouches
Among 425 youth across New Zealand, Canada, the USA and England who had used a pouch in the past 30 days (pooled 2024 ITC data), the most common reasons were curiosity or trying something new (29%), being easy to use without people noticing (24%), and for fun (23%). Same source.
Legal status
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Nov 2020 | Section 54 of the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990 comes into force: "A person must not import for sale, sell, pack, or distribute" any regulated product described as suitable for oral use, unless the Minister of Health has consented under the Medicines Act 1981. Fines reach $10,000 for a manufacturer, importer or distributor and $5,000 otherwise. The section covers import for sale; it does not mention import for personal use. | Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Act 1990, s 54, version as at 10 Jul 2026 |
| 31 Jan 2024 | Ministry of Health officials advise the Associate Minister on oral nicotine products. | PHCC, 18 Jul 2024 |
| 18 Mar 2024 | Cabinet agrees in principle to allow the sale of oral nicotine products and Swedish snus. | PHCC, 18 Jul 2024 (secondary report of a Cabinet decision) |
| 7 Aug 2025 | "The sale of oral tobacco and nicotine products is currently not permitted in Aotearoa New Zealand", except Medsafe-approved nicotine replacement therapies. The same briefing describes importing for personal use from international webstores as legal under New Zealand law. | PHCC, 7 Aug 2025 |
| 3 Dec 2025 | The Associate Minister tells the Health Select Committee she is working through advice from an expert advisory group. No timeline given. | RNZ, 3 Dec 2025 |
| 13 Aug 2026 | Pouches still cannot be legally sold in New Zealand; the Government has signalled it intends to allow domestic sales. Latest status found. | PHCC, 13 Aug 2026 |
This is a timeline of published statements, not legal advice. For a plain-language explanation see Are nicotine pouches legal in NZ?
Public opinion
| Statistic | Population | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 46% oppose retail sale of nicotine pouches; 33% support it | 1,247 NZ adults, 1–14 May 2026, margin of error ±2.9% | Health Coalition Aotearoa policy brief, May 2026 (Talbot Mills Research) |
| 57% believe nicotine pouch use among young people would increase if retail sale were allowed | Same survey |
The poll was commissioned by an advocacy organisation. Question wording is in the brief.
Context: smoking and vaping
| Measure, adults 15+ | 2019/20 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily smoking | 11.9% | 6.9% | 6.8% |
| Daily vaping | 3.5% | 11.1% | 11.7% |
Source: New Zealand Health Survey, annual update of key results 2024/25, Ministry of Health, 19 November 2025 (9,253 adults). The key results do not report nicotine pouch use.
The ASH Year 10 Snapshot is New Zealand's largest youth tobacco survey (31,402 students aged 14–15 in 2025). Its topline report does not measure nicotine pouches. It gives the backdrop against which pouch policy is debated.
| Measure, Year 10 students | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Daily vaping | 8.7% | 7.1% |
| Regular vaping | – | 11.2% |
| Daily smoking | – | 1.1% |
| Never smoked | 88.3% | 89.4% |
Source: ASH Year 10 Snapshot Survey 2025, topline factsheet, published 30 November 2025.
Global market
| Statistic | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ZYN shipments in the United States reached 794 million cans | Full year 2025 | Philip Morris International, Q4 2025 results, 6 Feb 2026 |
| ZYN US shipments of 196 million cans, up more than 19% on the year before | Q4 2025 | |
| ZYN held around two-thirds of US nicotine pouch category value | 2025 | |
| ZYN available in 55 markets | End of 2025 | |
| ZYN shipments up 1.8% to 2.9 billion pouches (PMI now reports pouches, not cans) | Q2 2026 | PMI, Q2 2026 results, 22 Jul 2026 |
Nicotine content and regulation elsewhere
| Statistic | Scope | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Measured nicotine content ranged from 1.79 to 47.5 mg per pouch; median pouch weight 0.643 g | 44 pouch products from 20 manufacturers, laboratory analysis | Mallock et al., Tobacco Control 2024;33(2):193–199 |
| From 24 July 2026 people in Australia can no longer import nicotine pouches through the Personal Importation Scheme | Australia | Therapeutic Goods Administration, 17 Jul 2026 |
Manufacturer-reported shipment volumes. ZYN is not sold at retail in New Zealand.
Order data: what New Zealand buyers choose
Aggregate shares from paid Pouch Hut orders delivered to New Zealand addresses between 24 July and 19 September 2026: 36 orders, 143 cans, an average of 4.0 cans per order. This is a small sample from one overseas retailer and is not representative of New Zealand. It is published because no other order-level data for New Zealand exists. No customer information is included.
By labelled strength (share of cans)
By flavour family (share of cans)
By delivery region (share of orders)
Strength and flavour shares exclude cans whose product record has no band or flavour family (22 and 25 cans respectively). Labelled strength across the 40 products currently listed runs from 6 mg to 30 mg per pouch, with a median of 12 mg; see the strength comparison chart.
What is not measured in New Zealand
As at 21 September 2026 we could not find a published New Zealand figure for any of the following. If you know of one, email support@pouchhut.co.nz and it will be added with credit.
- Adult (all ages) prevalence of nicotine pouch use. The ITC figures cover ages 16–29 only, and the New Zealand Health Survey key results do not report pouches.
- Pouch use among Year 10 students. The ASH Year 10 topline report does not include pouches.
- Import volumes or border seizures of nicotine pouches.
- The size of the New Zealand market in cans or dollars.
Cite this page
Pouch Hut. Nicotine pouch statistics: New Zealand. Updated 21 September 2026. https://www.pouchhut.co.nz/pages/nicotine-pouch-statistics-nz
<a href="https://www.pouchhut.co.nz/pages/nicotine-pouch-statistics-nz">Nicotine pouch statistics: New Zealand (Pouch Hut)</a>
Please cite the primary source for any individual figure, and this page for the compilation or the order data. Corrections are welcome and are dated when made.