Indicator Metadata

Smoking

Percentage of Population Who Report Current Smoking

The percentage of the population age 12 and older who reported being current cigarette smokers, on either a daily or occasional basis

Population age 12 and older who reported current smoking, either daily or occasionally, divided by the number of survey respondents

Population estimates are based on weighted survey responses to reflect the total population.

Place of residence

Percentage or proportion

None

Not applicable

Description:
Population age 12 and older (based on weighted survey responses)
Exclusions:
Non-response categories (refusal, don't know and not stated) are excluded.

Description:
Population age 12 and older who reported being a current smoker, either daily or occasionally (based on weighted survey responses)

Smoking is a leading cause of premature morbidity and mortality in Canada. It is a risk factor for conditions such as lung and other cancers, heart disease, stroke and chronic respiratory disease. According to the World Health Organization, smoking is an important and preventable cause of death.

Low results are desirable.

Social Determinants of Health: Biological, material, psychosocial and behavioural factors

Not applicable

Not applicable

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD Factbook 2014: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. 2014.

Statistics Canada. Health at a Glance: Current smoking trends. Accessed February 28, 2018.

Statistics Canada. Canadian Community Health Survey — Annual component (CCHS). Accessed February 20, 2020.

Statistics Canada. Health characteristics, two-year period estimates. Accessed February 20, 2020.

CCHS, Statistics Canada, Statistics Canada, Table 13-10-0113-01: Health characteristics, two-year period estimates (by age group and sex, Canada, provinces, territories and health regions).

Type of Year:
Calendar
First Available Year:
2017
Last Available Year:
2018

All provinces/territories

National, Province/Territory, Region

Every year

Web Tool:
Your Health System: In Depth
URL:
Accessing Indicator Results on Your Health System: In Depth (PDF)

Not applicable

This indicator is calculated based on 2 years of pooled data from 2017 and 2018.

This indicator does not take into account the number of cigarettes smoked. Data collected for this indicator is based on the question that refers to the smoking of cigarettes only.

Data for the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is collected yearly from a sample of approximately 65,000 respondents. Table 13-10-0113-01 presents estimates from 2-year combined data and features estimates for all provinces and territories as well as by health regions. The 2-year combined data has higher precision (less variability) than annual estimates; annual CCHS estimates are not available at the health region level.

Some values have data quality flags that indicate "use with caution" or "suppressed" due to high coefficients of variation: health regions with small populations and results disaggregated by age group or sex within small regions.

The CCHS covers the population age 12 and older living in the 10 provinces and 3 territories.
Excluded from the survey's coverage are

• Persons living on reserves and in other Indigenous settlements in the provinces
• Full-time members of the Canadian Forces
• Children age 12 to 17 living in foster care
• The population of institutionalized persons
• Persons living in 2 Quebec health regions: Nunavik Region and Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James Region.
  
  

Altogether, these exclusions represent less than 3% of the Canadian population age 12 and older.

As a result of a redesign in 2015, the CCHS has a new collection strategy and sample design. For this reason, Statistics Canada does not recommend making comparisons with CCHS data from 2001 to 2014.

Data for Ontario's local health integration networks and British Columbia's regional health authorities was received from Statistics Canada through custom tabulation requests:

Source: Statistics Canada. Selected CCHS Indicators for Ontario by Local Health Integration Network and British Columbia Regional Health Authority, 2017–2018. January 2020. Reproduced and distributed on an "as is" basis with the permission of Statistics Canada.

Indicator results are also available in

• Your Health System: In Brief
• OECD Interactive Tool
  
  

Please note that these results are calculated based on the population age 15+.

• Health Inequalities Interactive Tool
  
  

Please note that these results are calculated based on age-standardization to the 2011 Canadian standard population age 18+.