Quitting behaviours and outcomes

The majority (70.6%) of Canadians who have ever been smokers have now quit. Figure 5.1 shows the percentage of respondents who have ever smoked, including both current and former smokers, as well as quitter percentage (the percentage of ever smokers who were former smokers at the time of survey) over time. Quitter percentage slowly increased between 1999 and 2005, and then remained around 60% for a number of years, before appearing to increase again in the most recent years.

Bar and line graph showing percentage of respondents who have ever smoked (current and former smokers), and quitter percentage from 1999 to 2020. Trends described in text. Data table below with 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 5.1 data table with 95% confidence intervals
Figure 5.1: Percentage of respondents who have ever smoked (current and former smokers), and quitter percentage*, 1999-2020
  Current Smoker Former Smoker Ever Smoker Quit Rate
1999 25.2 25.3 50.6 50.1
2000 24.4 26 50.4 51.5
2001 21.7 [20.4-23.1] 23.8 [22.3-25.3] 45.6 [44.3-46.8] 52.3 [49.5-55.1]
2002 21.4 [20.6-22.3] 25.0 [23.9-26.2] 46.5 [45.3-47.7] 53.9 [52.2-55.6]
2003 20.9 [19.7-22.0] 26.4 [25.2-27.7] 47.3 [45.9-48.7] 55.9 [53.8-58.0]
2004 19.6 [18.5-20.7] 25.5 [24.3-26.7] 45.1 [43.7-46.5] 56.6 [54.5-58.6]
2005 18.7 [17.6-19.8] 27.7 [26.4-29.0] 46.4 [45.0-47.8] 59.7 [57.6-61.8]
2006 18.6 [17.6-19.6] 27.1 [25.9-28.3] 45.7 [44.3-47.1] 59.3 [57.5-61.1]
2007 19.2 [18.2-20.3] 28.0 [26.9-29.2] 47.3 [46.0-48.6] 59.3 [57.4-61.2]
2008 17.9 [16.8-18.9] 28.7 [27.4-30.0] 46.6 [45.2-47.9] 61.6 [59.6-63.6]
2009 17.5 [16.5-18.6] 26.8 [25.7-27.9] 44.3 [43.0-45.6] 60.5 [58.5-62.4]
2010 16.7 [15.8-17.7] 26.4 [25.2-27.6] 43.1 [41.9-44.3] 51.2 [59.2-63.2]
2011 17.3 [16.2-18.4] 25.4 [24.3-26.5] 42.7 [41.3-44.1] 59.4 [57.4-61.5]
2012 16.1 [15.0-17.3] 27.9 [26.6-29.3] 44.1 [42.6-45.6] 63.4 [61.2-65.6]
2013 14.6 [13.5-15.8] 25.9 [24.5-27.2] 40.5 [39.0-42.0] 63.9 [61.4-66.3]
2015 13.0 [12.0-14.0] 27.2 [25.9-28.6] 40.2 [38.7-41.7] 67.7 [65.4-69.9]
2017 15.1 [13.6-16.6] 25.7 [24.0-27.5] 59.2 [57.1-61.3] 63.1 [60.1-66.1]
2019 11.9 [10.9-12.8] 24.5 [23.4-25.6] 36.3 [35.0-37.6] 67.3 [65.2-69.5]
2020 10.3 [9.5-11.2] 24.8 [23.6-26.0] 35.1 [33.7-36.4] 70.6 [68.4-72.7]

*Quitter percentage is calculated as the percentage of ever smokers who were former smokers at time of survey.
Data sources: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, 1999-2012; Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015, 2017; Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey, 2019, 2020.

Nearly 8 million Canadians are former smokers.