Smoking+Trends


 * Smoking Trends in Canada **

Tobacco use is found to be the number preventative death in all of Canada, with a death rate of around 47,000 Canadians a year. Another way to look at it is that every 11th minute of an hour is equal to one death of a Canadian from tobacco use. It was also found that smoking is related to around 17% of the deaths from all types of cancer in 2002 (Hart, Ksir, Hebb, Gilbert & Black, 2012)

Mortality rate is also related to the age of onset and the number of cigarettes smoked. The earlier the age of the first smoke and the greater the number of cigarettes used is related to higher mortality rates. The national estimate of smoking in Canada (for Canadians ages 12 and above) is estimated to be around 12.7%. It was found that prevalence of smoking was above average for students attending university in Quebec (18.3%), and lowest among those in the prairies (8.9%). Overall, smoking has significantly reduced over the past 25 years, having an overall average of 14% decrease. This trend accounts for all age groups (age 15-19, 20-24, 25+) (Hart et al., 2012).


 * First Nation Smoking **

Smoking is especially prevalent among First Nations adolescents. In 2009, smoking rates were the highest among First Nations and Inuit youth compared the other teens in the age group of 15-19). Traditionally, tobacco have been used by First Nation ceremonies for thousands of years. It's original purpose symbolized honour, cleansing, and healing of the body and soul. With the new cigarettes, the chemical additives and addictive properties have changed the use of tobacco from its spiritual purpose (Hart et al., 2012).

In addition, First Nation's people have been exempted from paying provincial or territorial tobacco for a purchase of up to three cartons a week. This is an issue because research has found that Canadian First Nation's in general are almost three times more likely to smoke. The Canadian government has decided to cut back on the number of tax-free cigarettes they are allowed to buy, but the problem of tobacco is still existent (Hart et al., 2012).

Tobacco smoking kills almost 6 million people a year, with more than 600,000 of them being non-smokers. Furthermore, up to a half of the smokers may eventually of a disease related to tobacco. By 2030, tobacco will have killed over 8 million people around the world each year if the current rate continues (Hart et al., 2012).