Cigarette Sales and Sources

Cigarette Sales

Since 2001, tobacco companies have been required by the Tobacco Reporting Regulations to provide Health Canada with reports on sales of tobacco products. Health Canada has released this sales data, which represent “shipments from tobacco companies in a province or territory, but do not include estimates of illicit tobacco sales.” These data are outlined below, and available in full at: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/healthy-living/federal-provincial-territorial-tobacco-sales-data/page-2.html

In 2017, cigarette sales in Canada totaled over 27 billion sticks (27,110,716,886), down from over 42 billion in 2001. Figure 3.1 shows total cigarette sales for Canada, from 2001-2017. Total sales generally declined until 2008, when sales increased for a couple of years before leveling off, and then again declining in recent years. These overall sales figures do not take into account population size; on a per capita basis, sales have continued to decline over this time, as population grew from approximately 31 million in 2001^v to over 36.5 million in 2017.^vi

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 3.1 Data Table with 95% Confidence Intervals

Cigarette sales, Canada, 2001-2017
Year	Sales
2001	42,087,329,210
2002	37,627,491,460
2003	35,634,281,159
2004	34,289,181,086
2005	32,970,621,643
2006	30,217,394,914
2007	28,704,713,382
2008	27,573,569,888
2009	28,640,322,910
2010	31,653,625,884
2011	31,178,012,116
2012	31,347,437,105
2013	31,467,896,967
2014	29,467,902,653
2015	29,032,568,898
2016	28,642,383,251
2017	27,110,716,886

Data Source: Health Canada, 2017 (as reported by tobacco companies under Tobacco Reporting Regulations)

NOTES: total sales not adjusted for population SIZE (i.e., not “per capita”)

These data are subject to ongoing revision due to re-submissions by tobacco companies and/or audits by Health Canada.

Figure 3.2 shows sales data for 2017 by province/territory. Again, this does not adjust for population size, but represents the size of the cigarette market in each province/territory. Ontario has the highest cigarette sales, at over 9.8 billion cigarettes, followed by Quebec with over 6.6 billion, and Alberta with nearly 3.7 billion.

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 3.2 Data Table with 95% Confidence Intervals

Cigarette sales, by province/territory, 2017
Province	Cigarette Sales
ON	9,800,266,993
PQ	6,634,534,115
AB	3,671,488,653
BC	2,855,280,484
SK	1,015,983,475
MB	936,585,205
NS	893,870,530
NB	609,284,916
NL	600,922,320
PEI/NWT/NU/YT	92,500,195

Data Source: Health Canada, 2017 (as reported by tobacco companies under Tobacco Reporting Regulations)

NOTES: total sales not adjusted for population SIZE (i.e., not “per capita”)

Health Canada advises that There are three important factors to consider when using these data:

The data are subject to ongoing revision due to re-submissions by tobacco companies and/or audits by Health Canada.
Sales represent shipments to wholesalers or retailers in a province/territory. Sales totals may not be representative of tobacco consumption for that province/territory.
In certain cases, provincial/territorial sales were not reportable due to a limited number of companies active in that market. In these cases, the data were merged into a larger geographical grouping.

Table 3.1 shows yearly cigarette sales by province/territory from 2001 to 2017. Overall, sales have decreased during this time in all provinces/territories except Newfoundland and Labrador.

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Download table 3.1 cigarette sales (in thousands), by province/territory, 2001-2017 (.xlsx)