Prevalence of e-cigarette use

In 2020, 16.6% of Canadians age 15 and older (5.2 million) reported having ever tried an e-cigarette, and 4.7% (1.5 million) had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days. Daily use of e-cigarettes was reported by 2.3% of Canadians (~721,000) age 15 and older (Figure 11.1).

Prevalence of using e-cigarettes ever, in the past 30-day, and daily, did not change significantly between 2019 and 2020.58-60 However, between 2013 and 2020, there was on overall increasing trend over time for ever and past 30-day use61, 62. Between 2015 and 2020, the overall effect of time on daily use was not significant.63

Line graph showing prevalence of ever use, past 30-day use, and daily use of e-cigarettes among Canadians age 15+, from 2013 to 2020. Trends described in text. Data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

The past 30-day prevalence of using e-cigarettes was much lower than for smoking cigarettes, which 10.3%a of Canadians reported doing in the past 30 days. However, past 30-day prevalence of using e-cigarettes was greater than for other tobacco products, like cigarillos and cigars (see Figure 4.1).

Figure 11.1 Data table with 95% confidence intervals
Figure 11.1: Prevalence (%) of ever use, past 30-day use, and daily use* of e-cigarettes among Canadians age 15+, 2013-2020
  2013 2015 2017 2019 2020
Ever use 8.5 [7.7-9.3] 13.2 [12.3-14.2] 15.4 [14.0-16.7] 16.2 [15.3-17.2] 16.6 [15.7-17.5]
Past 30-day use 1.8 [1.4-2.2] 3.2 [2.7-3.7] 2.9 [2.3-3.5] 4.7 [4.2-5.3] 4.7 [4.1-5.2]
Daily use * 1.0 [0.7-1.4] 1.0 [0.7-1.3] 2.1 [1.7-2.5] 2.3 [1.9-2.7]

*Daily use of e-cigarettes not asked in CTADS 2013.
Data sources: Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015, 2017; Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey, 2019, 2020.

Frequency of E-cigarette use

Past 30-day vapers reported using e-cigarettes with nicotine on an average of 15.7b of the past 30 days, which was not a significant increase from the 2019 estimate of 13.8c days.64

95% confidence intervals for in-text estimates

a: 10.3% [9.5-11.2]
b: 10.3% [9.5-11.2]
c: 15.7 [14.1-17.3]