Vaping in Canada: what we know

Surveys

This is a survey of Canadians 15 years and older. It asks about their use of:

The most recent survey was done in 2017. It showed:

15% of Canadians have tried a vaping product (referred to as an e-cigarette in the survey). Youth (15 to 19 years) and young adults (20 to 24 years) have the highest rates of trying vaping. This compares to adults 25 years and older.
Among Canadians who used a vaping product in the past 30 days, 65% are current smokers and 20% are former smokers. 15% reported having never smoked cigarettes.
32% of current or former cigarette smokers who had ever used vaping products reported using it as a quit-smoking aid.

This survey did not include questions about the rate of success of attempts to quit smoking using vaping products.

This is a survey of Canadian students between grades 7 and 12 (secondary I to secondary V in Quebec). It asks about their use of:

The survey is done every 2 years. The most recent survey was done in 2016-17. It showed that:

23% of students in grades 7-12 had ever tried a vaping product (referred to as an e-cigarette in the survey). 10% reported using them within the last 30 days.
most students who had tried a vaping product (such as e-cigarettes) had also tried a cigarette.
53% of all students thought it would be "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get a vaping product such as e-cigarettes if they wanted one.

We use research studies to:

Health Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research set up a Scientific Advisory Board on Vaping Products. This advisory board regularly:

The board includes:

The members are experts in:

For more information
Health Canada Statement on Use of Vaping Products by Youth Talking with your teen about vaping: a tip sheet for parents