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 2001v to over 36.5 million in 2017.vi
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.
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.
Download table 3.1 cigarette sales (in thousands), by province/territory, 2001-2017 (.xlsx)
