• Download the full report
• About This Report
• Highlights
• Table of Contents
• I: Adult Tobacco Use
• Smoking in Canada
  Historical Trends
  Smoking Prevalence
  Cigarette Consumption
• Smoking in the Provinces
• Sources of Cigarettes
• Other Tobacco Use
• II: Quitting Smoking
• III: Youth Tobacco Use
• End Material
• Policy Supplement

SMOKING PREVALENCE

By Sex | By Age | By Education Level

Current Smoking Prevalence

In 2010, the overall prevalence of smoking in Canada was 16.7%, or approximately 4.7 million Canadians: 13.1% (3.7 million) daily and 3.7% (1.0 million) non-daily smokers (Figure 1.2). Although the lowest prevalence ever reported by CTUMS, this was not significantly lower (1) than the 2009 prevalence rate of 17.5% . Between 2009 and 2010, neither daily (2), or non-daily smoking (3) decreased significantly.

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As shown in Figure 1.3, overall smoking prevalence has decreased significantly over time (4). Decreases in daily smoking appear to be responsible for most of the observed drop in smoking rates, since non-daily smoking has remained relatively constant at around 4% since 1999.

From 1999 to 2010, the average annual decrease in prevalence was 3.4% of the previous year’s value, so that the absolute difference between successive years is getting smaller with time (5).

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