Smoking At All-Time Low in Canada

Fewer than one in five Canadians consider themselves smokers, and youth are half as likely to smoke today as they were in 1999.

Smoking rates are now the lowest they've ever been in Canada, with just 17 per cent of the population regularly lighting up. That's down from a high of 25 per cent in 1999, meaning fewer and fewer Canadians are getting the pleasure of lighting up a smooth, toasted, tightly rolled cigarette of fresh Ontario tobacco and all the wonderful social side effects they bring. They're also not taking five minutes off their lives every time they light up, nor stinking up public places, but we suppose that's te trade off. Among youth over the age of 15, smoking rates have plummeted from 28 per cent to 12 per cent since 1999. British Columbians are the least likely to smoke, with just 14 per cent considering themselves smokers (although a lot of them might be replacing tobacco with another smokeable plant), while Manitobans, Nova Scotians, and Saskatchewanians are the most likely, as 21 per cent of people in those provinces smoke.