Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey, 2022
Released: 2023-09-11
Vaping is the act of inhaling and exhaling vapour produced by a device such as an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), vape mod, vaporizer or vape pen. Most vaping products contain nicotine, which can cause addiction. Results released today from the Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS) suggest that vaping continues to be prevalent among young people in Canada.
Statistics Canada conducted the fourth cycle of the CTNS from November 2022 to January 2023 in collaboration with Health Canada to obtain information about vaping and smoking habits.
Youth and young adults are more likely to have tried vaping, while older adults are more likely to have tried smoking
In 2022, 30% of youth aged 15 to 19 years and nearly half (48%) of young adults aged 20 to 24 years reported having tried vaping in their lifetime. In comparison, 10% of youth and 27% of young adults had ever tried smoking cigarettes. Adults aged 25 years and older were much less likely to have tried vaping (15%) and much more likely to have tried cigarette smoking (52%). These estimates are consistent with those observed in 2021.
Among young adults, smoking and vaping prevalence are moving in opposite directions
In 2022, 20% of young adults aged 20 to 24 years reported having vaped at least once in the past 30 days, up from 15% in 2019, 13% in 2020 and 17% in 2021. The opposite trend occurred for cigarette smoking; 8% of young adults reported currently smoking cigarettes in 2022, down from 10% in 2021. For youth aged 15 to 19 years and adults aged 25 years and older, the percentage of people who reported vaping in the past 30 days and the percentage of those who reported smoking cigarettes in the past 30 days have remained stable across the four cycles of the CTNS.
Some youth and young adults are more likely to vape and smoke than others
Among young adults aged 20 to 24 years, vaping in the past 30 days was more common for men (23%) than women (17%) in 2022. Men were also more likely than women to report cigarette smoking in the past 30 days, both among those aged 15 to 19 years (5% of men compared with 3% of women) and among those aged 20 to 24 years (10% of men compared with 6% of women). However, among youth aged 15 to 19 years, men (14%) and women (13%) were almost equally likely to have vaped in the past 30 days.
Youth aged 15 to 19 years who were lesbian, gay, bisexual or another sexual orientation that is not heterosexual (LGB+) reported vaping (19%) and cigarette smoking (8%) in the past 30 days at a higher rate than their heterosexual peers (13% for vaping and 4% for cigarette smoking). Among young adults aged 20 to 24 years, there was little difference in the prevalence of vaping or cigarette smoking in the past 30 days based on sexual orientation. Specifically, 22% of LGB+ young adults reported vaping compared with 20% of their heterosexual counterparts, and 11% of LGB+ young adults reported cigarette smoking compared with 7% of their heterosexual counterparts.
Infographic 1
Cigarette smoking and vaping in the 30 days before the survey, by age group, 2019 to 2022
Note to readers
Data in this release are from the 2022 Canadian Tobacco and Nicotine Survey (CTNS), which collects information about the prevalence of cigarette smoking, tobacco use, vaping and cannabis use. The survey was conducted from late November 2022 to late January 2023, and information was collected from 12,133 respondents. The target population was non-institutionalized people aged 15 years and older living in Canada's 10 provinces who do not live in collective dwellings or on reserves. Questionnaire content was developed in collaboration with Health Canada. Previous cycles were conducted from October to December 2019, from December 2020 to January 2021 and from December 2021 to February 2022, and data from these cycles are provided to examine time trends.
In the context of this analysis, vaping includes vaping e-liquid—with and without nicotine (i.e., just flavouring)—and using an e-cigarette, vape mod, vaporizer or vape pen. The analysis excludes vaping cannabis.
Respondents who reported having used a vaping product at least once during the 30-day period preceding the survey, also referred to as "vaped in the past 30 days," were then asked about the frequency of use. Daily vaping refers to those reported vaping daily within the past 30 days. Similar questions were used to define smoking within the past 30 days and daily smoking. In this context, smoking specifically refers to smoking cigarettes. Use of other tobacco products are not included.
Survey sampling weights were applied so that the analyses would be representative of the targeted population.
Health Canada has also released a detailed report from the latest cycle of the CTNS.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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