E-cigarette use in Canada

In 2015, among Canadians age 15 and older:

A substantial number of Canadians had tried e-cigarettes, but very few reported using them daily:

• 13.2% (3.9 million) reported having ever tried an e-cigarette;

• 3.2% (~946,000) used one in the past 30 days;
• 1.0% (~308,000) reported daily use.

Use of e-cigarettes (ever, and in the past 30 days) increased significantly between 2013 and 2015.

E-cigarette use was most prevalent among young people:

• One in four youth aged 15-19, and 3 out of 10 young adults aged 20-24, reported ever trying an e-cigarette.
• 6.3% of youth and young adults had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days

Among Canadians who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, daily use was more prevalent among adults aged 45 and older (42.8%), compared to those aged 15-24 (21.0%) and 25-44 (32.5%).

Ever use of e-cigarettes was more prevalent among males (16.1%) than females (10.5%), but there was no difference in past 30-day use (3.6% vs. 2.8%).

• Sex differences were more pronounced among younger age groups.

E-cigarette use varied by province: ever use ranged from 10.4% in Ontario to 18.8% in Nova Scotia. Past 30-day use also varied by province.  

Prevalence of e-cigarette use was much greater among smokers:

• 51.0% of current smokers had ever used e-cigarettes, compared to 7.6% of non-smokers.
• Past 30-day use was 15.5% among current smokers and 1.4% among non-smokers.

Nearly half of e-cigarette users (47.8%) reported that the last e-cigarette they used contained nicotine, despite nicotine-containing e-cigarettes not being approved for sale in Canada.

Fruit and tobacco were the most common usual flavours of e-cigarettes. Fruit flavours were most popular among younger users, while tobacco flavour was more popular among older users and smokers.

Among all ever users, nearly one-quarter (22.8%) reported using e-cigarettes to help them quit smoking within the past two years.

Approximately one-third (35.2%) of e-cigarette ever-users who were also cigarette smokers reported using an e-cigarette when they were unable to smoke, or to smoke fewer cigarettes.