British Columbia

Smoking prevalence

$100.64. In 2017, smoking prevalence in British Columbia was 15.6%, slightly above the national average of 15.1%.

Figure 2.3 (below) shows smoking prevalence, overall and by sex, in British Columbia from 1999-2017. Overall, it appears that prevalence slowly declined in this time period, except for an uptick in the most recent year; it is unclear whether this is an anomaly or whether it represents a changing trend. Males had similar or greater prevalence than females in all years observed until 2017.

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 2.3 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Current smoking prevalence* by sex, British Columbia, 1999-2017
	BC	Males	Females
1999	20.0	20.8	19.2
2000	19.6	21.6	17.7
2001	16.7 [14.6-18.7]	17.1 [13.7-20.5]	16.2 [13.1-19.3]
2002	16.5 [14.4-18.6]	18.8 [15.6-22.0]	14.2 [11.6-16.8]
2003	16.4 [14.6-18.3]	17.1 [14.1-20.1]	15.8 [13.5-18.1]
2004	15.2 [13.3-17.1]	16.6 [13.7-19.5]	13.9 [11.4-16.4]
2005	14.7 [12.7-16.7]	17.2 [14.2-20.3]	12.2 [9.9-14.5]
2006	16.4 [14.2-18.5]	17.6 [14.3-21.0]	15.1 [12.7-17.5]
2007	14.4 [12.5-16.4]	17.9 [14.6-21.1]	11.1 [8.9-13.3]
2008	14.7 [12.8-16.6]	17.0 [13.9-20.1]	12.5 [10.0-15.0]
2009	14.9 [12.8-17.0]	16 [12.9-19.0]	13.8 [10.9-16.6]
2010	14.3 [12.2-16.4]	14.8 [11.9-17.7]	13.7 [10.8-16.6]
2011	14.2 [11.9-16.5]	11.0 [8.4-13.5]	17.6 [13.7-21.4]
2012	13.2 [10.9-15.6]	15.2 [11.1-19.3]	11.3 [8.7-14.0]
2013	12.9 [10.9-15.0]	14.8 [11.8-17.8]	11 [8.8-13.1]
2015	10.2 [8.4-12.0]	12.2 [9.4-15.1]	8.2 [6.0-10.3]
2017	15.6 [11.1-20.1]	14.2 [9.0-19.3]	17.0 [10.1-23.9]

*Includes daily and non-daily smokers

Data sources: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, 1999-2012; Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015, 2017.

Figure 2.4 shows smoking prevalence by age group in British Columbia, from 1999-2017. During this time period, there was a net decrease in smoking prevalence in all age groups except those over 45. In 2017, prevalence appears to have jumped among those over 45, but as with the overall trend noted above, it is unclear whether this represents an anomaly or a changing trend in this age group.

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 2.4 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Current smoking prevalence* by age group, British Columbia, 1999-2017.
	15-19	20-24	25-44	45+	Overall
1999	20.2	29.0	26.0	12.9	20.0
2000	18.0	28.5	23.8	14.6	19.6
2001	16.8 [13.4-20.2]	27.0 [22.4-31.6]	18.9 [15.0-22.8]	12.9 [10.1-15.7]	16.7 [14.6-18.7]
2002	14.8 [11.8-17.9]	22.0 [18.0-25.9]	20.9 [16.5-25.3]	12.3 [9.4-15.1]	16.5 [14.4-18.6]
2003	13.5 [10.7-16.4]	19.5 [15.5-23.6]	21.2 [17.3-25.0]	12.7 [10.3-15.1]	16.4 [14.6-18.3]
2004	12.8 [9.4-16.2]	26.5 [21.1-31.9]	16.3 [12.9-19.7]	12.9 [10.0-15.7]	15.2 [13.3-17.1]
2005	14.4 [10.8-18.0]	24.0 [19.4-28.5]	17.8 [13.6-21.9]	10.9 [8.2-13.6]	14.7 [12.7-16.7]
2006	12.4 [9.2-15.7]	24.0 [19.5-28.5]	19.7 [15.5-23.8]	13.3 [10.7-16.0]	16.4 [14.2-18.5]
2007	9.0 [6.3-11.7]	18.2 [13.3-23.2]	15.3 [11.2-19.5]	14.0 [11.4-16.6]	14.4 [12.5-16.4]
2008	15.2 [11.6-18.7]	21.0 [16.1-25.9]	14.7 [10.5-18.9]	13.6 [10.8-16.4]	14.7 [12.8-16.6]
2009	12.5 [9.0-16.0]	17.8 [13.3-22.3]	21.0 [15.7-26.4]	10.7 [8.4-13.0]	14.9 [12.8-17.0]
2010	8.9 [6.0-11.9]	24.6 [19.4-29.8]	15.9 [10.9-20.9]	12.3 [9.8-14.8]	14.3 [12.2-16.4]
2011	10.1 [6.7-13.6]	13.1 [9.2-17.1]	16.6 [11.3-21.8]	13.5 [10.8-16.2]	14.2 [11.9-16.5]
2012	9.6 [6.8-12.5]	16.1 [11.6-20.5]	20.0 [14.0-26.0]	9.2 [6.7-11.6]	13.2 [10.9-15.6]
2013	9.5 [5.2-13.8] #	11.4 [6.6-16.1] #	14.2 [8.3-20.2] #	10 [7.5-12.6]	11.4 [9.1-13.8]
2015	!	13.8 [9.1-18.6]	13.4 [9.2-17.5]	8.2 [6.0-10.3]	10.2 [8.4-12.0]
2017	6.5 [2.7-10.3]	11.7 [4.8-18.6]	!	16.8 [11.3-22.2]	15.6 [11.1-20.1]

*Includes daily and non-daily smokers
# Caution: these estimates do not meet Statistics Canada's quality standards. Conclusions based on these data will be unreliable, and most likely invalid.
! Estimate suppressed due to unacceptable quality
Data Sources: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, 1999-2012; Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015, 2017

Cigarette consumption

Between 1999 and 2017, there has been little net change in average daily cigarette consumption in British Columbia (Figure 2.5). Cigarette consumption estimates were greater among males than females in all years except 2017, though the magnitude of this difference varied from year to year.

See data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 2.5 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Average daily cigarette consumption* by sex, British Columbia, 1999-2017
	BC	Males	Females
1999	16.1	17.3	14.6
2000	14.8	16.5	12.9
2001	14.6 [13.5-15.7]	15.5 [13.2-17.8]	13.8 [10.9-16.7]
2002	16.3 [15.0-17.5]	17.7 [15.8-19.5]	14.4 [12.8-16.0]
2003	15.8 [14.3-17.4]	17.7 [15.5-20.0]	13.3 [11.9-14.7]
2004	14.5 [13.4-15.6]	15.5 [13.9-17.1]	13.3 [12.1-14.6]
2005	15.7 [13.9-17.4]	18.6 [16.2-21.1]	11.7 [9.8-13.6]
2006	15.5 [14.2-16.7]	16.1 [14.3-17.8]	14.7 [13.0-16.5]
2007	14.5 [13.2-15.8]	15.1 [13.4-16.9]	13.6 [11.5-15.6]
2008	14.1 [12.5-15.6]	15.2 [12.7-17.6]	12.6 [11.1-14.2]
2009	13.4 [12.2-14.6]	14.9 [13.3-16.5]	11.8 [10.2-13.4]
2010	15 [13.4-16.5]	16.6 [13.9-19.2]	13.5 [11.7-15.3]
2011	14.1 [11.6-16.6]	15.9 [12.1-19.6]	10.9 [9.4-12.3]
2012	12.9 [11.3-14.5]	13.9 [11.6-16.2]	11.5 [9.7-13.2]
2013	12.9 [10.9-15.0]	14.8 [11.8-17.8]	11 [8.8-13.1]
2015	14.8 [12.6-17.0]	16.7 [13.4-20.0]	12.0 [9.9-14.0]
2017	15.3 [11.3-19.4]	14.4 [11.5-17.2]	16.3 [8.6-24.1]

*Among daily smokers

Data sources: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey,1999-2012; Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015, 2017.