Canadians who smoke declined to 17 per cent of the target population from 25 per cent in 1999, according to the latest Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS).

Although the number of occasional smokers remained stable during the 12-year reporting period at 1 million, the number of daily smokers fell to 3.7 million last year from 5.1 million in 1999. The survey population, defined as 15 years of age or older, increased by 3.8 million to 28.1 million during the 12 years, CTUMS said. (ci)