Skip to main Skip to footer
Search
  • Tobacco Use in Canada home
  • About
    • Data sources
      • About CTNS
      • About CTADS/CTUMS
      • About CSTADS/YSS
    • Analysis
      • Estimates
      • Significance testing
      • Data for youth tobacco use
      • Index of statistical tests
    • Glossary
    • References
  • Highlights
  • Adult tobacco use
    • Smoking in Canada
      • Historical trends
      • Smoking prevalence
        • Among males and females
        • By age
      • Cigarette consumption
        • Among males and females
        • By age
      • Smoking and self-rated health
    • Smoking in the provinces
      • British Columbia
      • Alberta
      • Saskatchewan
      • Manitoba
      • Ontario
      • Quebec
      • New Brunswick
      • Nova Scotia
      • Prince Edward Island
      • Newfoundland & Labrador
    • Cigarettes sales
      • Usual sources of cigarettes
    • Other tobacco use
      • Among males and females
      • By age
      • By province
      • Flavoured tobacco
        • Menthol cigarettes
  • Quitting smoking
    • Quitting behaviours and outcomes
      • Quitter percentage
        • Among males and females
        • By age
      • Quit intentions
      • Quit attempts
        • Among males and females
        • By age
      • Quit success
        • Among males and females
        • By age
    • Cessation assistance
      • Pharmacotherapy
      • Cessation advice
    • Reasons for quitting
  • Youth tobacco use
    • Smoking initiation
      • Grades 7-9
      • Ages 15-19
      • Age of initiation
      • Susceptibility
    • Current smoking
      • Smoking prevalence
        • By age
        • Among males and females
        • By province
      • Cigarette consumption
        • Among males and females
        • By age
    • Sources of cigarettes
    • Other tobacco products
      • Prevalence among students in grades 7-9
        • Among males and females
        • By province
      • Prevalence among youth aged 15-19
      • Flavoured tobacco products
    • Quitting smoking
      • Quit attempts
        • Grades 7-9
        • Ages 15-19
  • E-cigarette use
    • E-cigarette prevalence
      • Among males and females
      • By age
      • Among males and females, by age group
      • By province
        • Ages 15-19
      • By smoking status
    • Smoking status of e-cigarette users
      • Among males and females
      • By age
      • Smoking status of e-cigarette users over time
    • Nicotine in e-cigarettes
      • Among males and females, by smoking status
    • Flavours in e-cigarettes
    • Usual sources of e-cigarettes
    • Reasons for use
    • Perceptions of e-cigarettes
    • Quitting e-cigarettes
      • Among males and females
      • By age
      • By smoking status
    • Use among students in grades 7-9
      • Prevalence of e-cigarette use
        • By grade
        • Among males and females
        • By province
        • By smoking status
      • Nicotine in e-cigarettes
      • Sources of e-cigarettes
      • Perceptions of e-cigarettes
        • Ease of access
        • Perceived risk
  • Previous reports
    • Request print copy
  • Contact us
  • Admissions
  • About Waterloo
  • Faculties & academics
  • Offices & services
  • Support Waterloo
  • COVID-19
Tobacco Use in Canada
  • Tobacco Use in Canada home
  • About
  • Highlights
  • Adult tobacco use
  • Quitting smoking
  • Youth tobacco use
  • E-cigarette use
  • Previous reports
  • Contact us
  1. Tobacco Use in Canada

Highlights

Tobacco Use among Canadian Adults (15+), 2020

Smoking Prevalence

  • 10.3% of Canadians (approximately 3.2 million) were current smokers, significantly lower than the 2019 estimate of 11.9%.
  • The majority of smokers reported smoking daily (8.0% daily/2.4% non-daily prevalence).
  • Smoking prevalence was higher among males (12.1%) than females (8.6%).
  • Prevalence was highest among adults aged 45 to 54 and 55+, at 11.4%. Prevalence was lowest among youth aged 15 to 19, at 3.1%.
  • Smoking prevalence differed between provinces.

Cigarette Consumption

  • Daily smokers in Canada smoked an average of 12.5 cigarettes per day.
  • Average consumption has declined by nearly 5 cigarettes per day since 1999.
  • Male daily smokers consumed about 3 cigarettes more per day than females (13.3 vs. 10.2).
  • In 2021, Canadians purchased nearly 21 billion cigarettes.

Use of Other Tobacco Products

  • Cigarillos and cigars were the most popular tobacco products other than cigarettes: 2.5% of Canadians reported using cigarillos or cigars in the past 30 days.
  • Cigar and cigarillo use were more prevalent among males.
  • Young people aged 15-24 reported the highest prevalence of cigar and cigarillo use.

Quitting Smoking, 2020

  • The majority (70.6%) of Canadians who have ever been smokers have now quit.

Quit Attempts and Success

  • Almost half of smokers (44.5%) had tried to quit in the past year; nearly one-third (31.8%) tried more than once.
  • Similar percentages of males and females had made a quit attempt in the past year.
  • Quit attempts were similar across age groups.
  • Among respondents who had made a quit attempt in the past year, 15.4% were still abstinent from smoking at the time they were surveyed.

Cessation Assistance

  • Over two-thirds of smokers who attempted to quit used some form of cessation assistance.
  • The most commonly used forms of cessation assistance were nicotine replacement therapy (31.8%), and e-cigarettes (26.5%).

Tobacco Use among Canadian Youth

Youth in Grades 7-9, in 2018-19:

  • Nearly one in ten students in grades 7-9 (9.3%) had ever tried smoking a cigarette.
  • 1.0% of students in grades 7-9 were current smokers overall, varying by grade.
    • Similar proportions were daily (0.4%) and non-daily (0.6%) smokers.
    • Smoking prevalence was similar between males (1.1%) and females (0.9%).
  • Daily smokers in grades 7-9 smoked an average of 8.8 cigarettes per day.
  • 5.1% of students in grades 7-9 had ever smoked a cigar or cigarillo.
  • Most smokers in grades 7-9 usually obtained their cigarettes from social sources.
  • The majority of current smokers in grades 7-9 reported ever trying to quit smoking.

Youth Aged 15-19, in 2020:

  • One in ten youth (10.5%) aged 15-19 reported ever having smoked a whole cigarette.
  • More males (12.8%) than females (7.8%) had smoked a whole cigarette.
  • Overall, 3.1% of youth aged 15-19 were current smokers (including daily and non-daily).

E-cigarette Use among Canadians (15+), 2020

Vaping Prevalence

  • A substantial number of Canadians had tried e-cigarettes, but fewer reported regular use: 16.6% (5.2 million) reported having ever tried an e-cigarette; 4.7% had used one in the past 30 days, and 2.3% reported daily use.
  • Between 2019 and 2020, prevalence of e-cigarette use did not change significantly, for ever, past 30-day, or daily use.
  • E-cigarette use was most prevalent among young people: 35.2% of  youth aged 15-19 and 43.3% of young adults aged 20-24 reported ever trying an e-cigarette.
  • Prevalence of e-cigarette use was much greater among smokers: 47.5% of current smokers had ever used e-cigarettes, compared to 13.0% of non-smokers. Past 30-day use was 16.5% among current smokers and 3.3% among non-smokers.

E-cigarette Products and Sources

  • Most past 30-day vapers (84.4%) reported using an e-liquid with nicotine in the past month, while just one in five (21.1%) reported using an e-liquid without nicotine.
  • Fruit and mint/menthol were the most popular usual flavours of e-cigarettes. Fruit was more popular among younger users, and tobacco flavour was more common among older users.
  • The majority of vapers got their e-cigarette devices and liquids from vape shops.

Perceptions and Reasons for Use

  • Nearly one-third of all respondents believed that e-cigarettes with nicotine were about as harmful as cigarettes, and another third did not know how harmful they were compared to cigarettes.
  • Among past 30-day users, more than one-third (37.6%) reported that their main reason for using e-cigarettes was to quit, cut down on, or avoid returning to smoking cigarettes.

Quitting E-cigarettes

  • More than one-third of past 30-day e-cigarette users (36.4%) reported that they had attempted to quit vaping in the past year.

Youth in Grades 7-9, in 2018-19:

  • 21.0% of Canadian students in grades 7-9 reported having ever tried an e-cigarette, and 11.1% had used one in the past 30 days.
  • Nearly 9 in 10 current smokers in grades 7-9 had used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days, compared to approximately 7% of non-smokers.
  • Share via Facebook
  • Share via Twitter
  • Share via Google+
  • Share via LinkedIn
  • Share via Email
  • TOP
  • Share
Tobacco use in canada

For further information about this report, please contact us.

Provide feedback on this website.

School of Public Health Sciences
University of Waterloo
200 University Ave. W.
Waterloo, ON  Canada  N2L 3G1
 

Phone: 519-888-4567, ext. 45620
Email: tobaccoreport@uwaterloo.ca  




 

Log in