This report uses data from national surveys conducted by Health Canada and Statistics Canada to summarize the main patterns and trends in tobacco use in Canada, primarily between 1999 and 2010, with a focus on the current year. Highlights of the report are presented below.

Section I: Tobacco Use Among Canadian Adults (15+), 2010

Smoking Prevalence

• 16.7% of Canadians (approximately 4.7 million) were current smokers.
• The majority of smokers reported smoking daily (13.1% daily/3.7% non-daily prevalence).
• Although prevalence is at an all-time low, the decline in smoking prevalence observed over the past 10 years appears to have slowed.
• Prevalence was higher among males (19.7%) than females (13.8%).
• Smoking prevalence was highest among younger adults (age 20-24), at 22.1%
• Substantial differences in smoking prevalence by education level persisted over the last decade, despite declining prevalence.
• There were significant differences between provinces in smoking prevalence.

Cigarette Consumption

• Daily smokers in Canada smoked an average of 15.1 cigarettes per day.
• Average consumption has declined by more than 2 cigarettes per day since 1999.
• Male smokers consumed approximately 3 cigarettes more per day than females. Sex differences in consumption appear to have remained fairly stable since 1999.

Use of Other Tobacco Products

• Cigars and cigarillos were the most popular tobacco products other than cigarettes: 4% of Canadians reported use in the past 30 days.
• Roll-your-own tobacco was used by approximately one in nine smokers.
• Provinces differed significantly in use of roll-your-own tobacco and other tobacco products.
• Nearly half of smokers have made efforts to purchase cheaper cigarettes, including buying discount brands and purchasing on First Nations reserves.

Section II: Quitting Smoking, 2010

• Over 60% of Canadians who have ever been smokers have now quit.

Plans to Quit

• 6 in 10 smokers were seriously considering quitting in the next 6 months; 3 in 10 were considering quitting in the next month.
• Similar percentages of males and females were considering quitting.
• Smokers in all age groups were considering quitting at similar rates.

Quit Attempts and Success (Abstinence)

• Nearly half of smokers had tried to quit in the past year. Many had tried more than once.
• Similar percentages of males and females made a quit attempt.
• Greater percentages of younger smokers had tried to quit, compared to older smokers.
• Among respondents who had made a quit attempt in the past year, 10% were still abstinent from smoking at the time they were surveyed.

Quit Methods and Cessation Assistance

• The most common strategy for trying to quit smoking was to “reduce the number of cigarettes smoked,” used by 69% of smokers who attempted to quit.
• 6 in 10 smokers who attempted to quit used some form of cessation assistance.
• Stop-smoking medications, including nicotine replacement therapy, were used by nearly half (48%) of those who attempted to quit, but use varied by product and by province.
• More than a quarter of smokers “made a deal with a friend or family member to quit together.” 
• Few smokers (<5%) used services such as telephone quitlines or workplace interventions.
• Over half of smokers who visited a doctor in the past year had received advice to quit.

Section III: Tobacco Use Among Canadian Youth

Youth in grades 6-9, in 2008-09:

• 21.6% of students in grades 6-9 had ever tried a cigarette.
• 3.5% of students in grades 6-9 were current smokers overall, with grade-specific rates ranging from too low to report in grade 6 and 2.0% for grade 7, to 7.0% for grade 9 students.
  • Smokers were fairly evenly split between daily (1.8%) and non-daily (1.7%) smoking.
  • More males (4.0%) than females (3.0%) were current smokers.
  • Prevalence varied by province, and was highest in Quebec, at 7.6%.
• One third of never-smokers in grades 6-9 were classified as susceptible to smoking.
• Daily smokers in grades 7-9 smoked an average of 10.9 cigarettes per day.
• 12% of students in grades 6-9 had ever smoked a cigar or cigarillo.
• The majority (64%) of smokers in grades 6-9 usually obtained their cigarettes from social sources.
• Nearly two thirds of current smokers in grades 6-9 reported ever trying to quit smoking.

Youth aged 15-19, in 2010:

• One in four (25.5%) youth reported ever having smoked a whole cigarette.
• 12.2% of youth aged 15-19 were current smokers overall, with age-specific rates ranging from 5.0% for 15-year-olds to 17.5% for 19-year-olds.
  • More youth smoked daily (7.4%) than non-daily (4.9%).
  • Prevalence was higher among males (13.1%) than females (11.3%).
  • Prevalence varied by province, ranging from 9% in BC and Ontario to more than 20% in Saskatchewan.
• Daily smokers aged 15-19 smoked an average of 11.6 cigarettes per day.
• 16% of youth aged 15-19 had ever smoked a cigar, and 29% had ever smoked a cigarillo.
• Gender differences were apparent: 23% of males and 9% of females had smoked a cigar, while 33% of males and 24% of females had smoked a cigarillo.
• Six in ten smokers aged 15-18 usually obtained cigarettes from retail sources, while the remainder obtained them through social (29%) or other (10%) sources.
• 65% of smokers aged 15-19 were seriously considering quitting in the next 6 months.
• The majority (64%) of smokers aged 15-19 had made a quit attempt in the past 12 months.