Current smoking prevalence

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals. In 2017, the overall prevalence of smoking in Canada was 15.1%, equivalent to approximately 4.6 million Canadians. This represents a significant increase from the 2015 estimate of 13.0%.¹

Approximately 10.8% of Canadians (3.3 million) were daily smokers, while 4.3% (1.3 million) were non-daily smokers (Figure 1.2). Neither daily nor non-daily smoking changed significantly from the 2015 estimates of 9.4% and 3.7%, respectively.^2,³

As shown in Figure 1.3, overall smoking prevalence has decreased significantly over time since 1999.⁴

Reduction in daily smoking appears to be responsible for most of the observed decline in smoking rates during this time period, since non-daily smoking has remained relatively constant at around 4%.

Despite the overall prevalence increase in the most recent survey year, from 1999 to 2017, the overall trend was an average annual decrease in prevalence of 3.2% of the previous year’s value.⁵

Figure 1.2 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Current smoking prevalence, adults aged 15+, 2017
	Daily	Non-daily
2017	10.8 [9.5-12.1]	4.3 [3.4-5.1]

Data source: Canadian Tobacco Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2017

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 1.3 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Current smoking prevalence, adults aged 15+, 1999-2017
	Overall	Daily	Non-daily
1999	25.2	21	4.4
2000	24.4	19.9	4.7
2001	21.7 [20.4-23.1]	18.1 [16.7-19.5]	3.7 [3.3-4.2]
2002	21.4 [20.6-22.3]	17.6 [16.8-18.5]	3.9 [3.5-4.3]
2003	20.9 [19.7-22.0]	16.6 [15.5-17.8]	4.2 [3.7-4.7]
2004	19.6 [18.5-20.7]	15.0 [14.0-15.9]	4.6 [4.1-4.2]
2005	18.7 [17.6-19.8]	15.0 [13.9-16.0]	3.7 [3.3-4.2]
2006	18.6 [17.6-19.6]	14.2 [13.3-15.1]	4.4 [3.9-5.0]
2007	19.2 [18.2-20.3]	15.3 [14.4-16.3]	3.9 [3.4-4.4]
2008	17.9 [16.8-20.3]	13.5 [12.6-14.3]	4.4 [3.8-5.1]
2009	17.5 [16.5-18.6]	13.6 [12.6-14.5]	4.0 [3.4-4.5]
2010	16.7 [15.8-17.7]	13.0 [12.1-14.0]	3.7 [3.1-4.3]
2011	17.3 [16.2-18.4]	13.8 [12.7-14.8]	3.6 [3.1-4.1]
2012	16.1 [15.0-17.3]	11.9 [10.9-12.8]	4.3 [3.6-5.0]
2013	14.6 [13.5-15.8]	10.9 [9.9-11.9]	3.8 [3.2-4.5]
2015	13.0 [12.0-14.0]	9.4 [8.4-10.3]	3.7 [3.1-4.2]
2017	15.1 [13.6-16.6]	10.8 [9.5-12.1]	4.3 [3.4-5.1]

Data sources: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey,1999-2013; Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015, 2017