Smoking prevalence

Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2015; Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2014-15. See data table with 95% confidence intervals below. In 2014-15, the overall smoking rate among students in grades 6-9 was below 2%, although the exact estimate is suppressed due to unacceptable quality. Among adolescents aged 15-19, 9.7% were current smokers in 2015, with substantial variation by age, from 5.0% among 15- and 16-year-olds to 17.7% of 19-year-olds. Daily smoking (at 4.3%) accounted for just under half of smoking among youth, and increased with age (Figure 8.1).

Smoking prevalence among students in grades 6-9 dropped by more than half between 1994 and 2002, and has since remained low. Between 2012-13 and 2014-15, prevalence decreased significantly overall⁷⁴and for non-daily⁷⁵ smoking, but not for daily smoking⁷⁶ (Figure 8.2).

Figure 8.1 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Current smoking prevalence, Grades 6-9, 2014-15, and age 15-19, 2015
	Grades 6-9	Age 15-17	Age 18-19
Current	< 2*	6.1 [3.9-8.2]	14.5 [10.9-18.2]
Daily	< 2*	2.8 [1.1-4.5]	6.2 [3.7-8.8]
Non-Daily	< 2*	3.3 [1.9-4.7]	8.3 [5.6-11.0]

Data sources: Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2015; Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2014-2015.

Among youth aged 15-19, smoking prevalence declined steadily after 1999 for several years before leveling off and then again decreasing to another plateau; since 2008, prevalence has declined very slowly and gradually (Figure 8.2). Between 2013 and 2015, there was no significant change in overall, daily, or non-daily smoking prevalence.^77-79 Most of the decline in smoking observed among 15- to 19-year-olds appears to be due to decreasing daily smoking.

Figure 8.2 data table with 95% confidence intervals

Current smoking prevalence* (daily and non-daily), Grades 6-9 and age 15-19, 1994-2015
	Grades 6-9		Age 15-19
	Daily	Non-daily	Daily	Non-daily
1994	2.9	5.1
1999			20.0	8.3
2000			17.9	7.9
2001			16.1 [14.5-17.7]	6.6 [5.6-7.6]
2002	1.8	1.5	16.4 [14.9-17.8]	5.8 [5.0-6.7]
2003			11.7 [10.5-12.9]	6.6 [5.5-7.7]
2004 (YSS 2004-05)	1.0 [0.6-1.3]	1.1 [0.8-1.4]	10.9 [9.6-12.2]	7.5 [6.2-8.8]
2005			11.3 [9.8-12.7]	6.8 [5.5-8.0]
2006 (YSS 2006-07)	1.4 [1.2-1.7]	1.5 [1.3-1.8]	8.6 [7.4-9.8]	6.2 [5.2-7.3]
2007			9.2 [7.9-10.6]	6.0 [4.9-7.1]
2008 (YSS 2008-09)	1.8 [1.2-2.4]	1.7 [1.5-1.9]	8.6 [7.3-9.9]	6.2 [5.2-7.3]
2009			7.5 [6.4-8.5]	5.5 [4.5-6.5]
2010 (YSS 2010-11)	0.9 [0.6-1.3]	1.2 [1.0-1.5]	7.3 [6.2-8.5]	4.9 [3.9-5.8]
2011			6.0 [5.0-7.0]	5.8 [4.7-6.9]
2012 (YSS 2012-13)			6.6 [5.4-7.7]	4.3 [3.4-5.2]
2013			5.1 [3.8-6.5]	5.6 [4.4-6.8]
2014-15	< 2**
2015			4.3 [2.8-5.7]	5.4 [4.0-6.9]

*Current daily/non-daily smoker and smoked in past 30 days
**Exact estimate suppressed due to unacceptable quality. The upper bound of the estimates is <2%.
Data sources: Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, 1999-2012; Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey, 2013, 2015; Youth Smoking Survey, 1994, 2002, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2012-13; Canadian Student Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey 2014-2015.