There was a significant drop in the number of young women smoking in Canada in 2004, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

In its Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey, the agency said 25 per cent of women aged 20 to 24 smoked in 2004, down from 30 per cent just one year earlier.

(CP file Photo)

But there was no change for young men. The study found that 31 per cent of men aged 20 to 24 continued to smoke in 2004, the same rate as the year before.

5.1 million smokers

Overall, an estimated 5.1 million Canadians were smokers in 2004.

That figure represented 20 per cent Canada's population aged 15 and older.

And that 20 per cent accounted for people who either lit up occasionally – or on a daily basis.

StatsCan says those who smoked daily in 2004, on average, went through 15 cigarettes a day.

The data were gathered between February and December of 2004.

Overall, the agency says slightly more men than women smoked that year – about 22 per cent of men were smokers compared with 17 per cent of women.

Lowest in British Columbia

British Columbia, had the lowest overall rate of smokers at just 15 per cent.

The rates of smoking in all the other provinces and territories generally ranged between 19 and 24 per cent.

Also that year, half of all those people who said they smoked had actually tried to quit in the past year.

In terms of Canadian teenagers between 15 and 19 years of age, 18 per cent smoked. There was no difference between young men and young women.

Overall in 2004, there was a small decline in the prevalence of smoking.

And the agency says even though that change was not statistically significant, it does confirm a downward trend in Canadian smoking habits.

"There are actually approximately a million fewer smokers today than there were five years ago," said Murray Kaiserman, of Health Canada.

Kaiserman said Health Canada predicted that drop would take ten years. He said anti-smoking ad campaigns and tougher laws governing where people can smoke are making a difference, particularly with young women.