Gen Z Canadians are drinking less than older generations — but they’re using more nicotine products, a recent insurance report has found.
Canadians between the ages of 18 and 29 drink the least of any generation, with less than one per cent reporting they drank daily, a report by insurance firm PolicyMe shows. This was in contrast to the age group over 60, in which almost five per cent said they drink daily.
The results of the report are based on self-reported lifestyle choices from insurance applications.
However, this age group had the highest reported daily use of nicotine products (7.3 per cent) of any age group, the report said. In all other age groups, only five to six per cent said they use nicotine every day.
This includes all forms of nicotine use: vaping, e-cigarettes, traditional cigarettes and products like chewing tobacco.
While traditional cigarette smoking is not as popular as it once was, Canadian Lung Association CEO Sarah Butson said younger Canadians are being enticed by newer products.
“What we have seen is an increase in the number of young people that are entering the nicotine market for the first time. This means things like e-cigarette use,” she said.
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A 2022 Statistics Canada report found that younger Canadians were far more likely to have vaped in the past 30 days (14 per cent of youth aged 15 to 19 and 20 per cent of those aged 20 to 24) compared with four per cent of Canadians aged 25 and older.
Reducing stress was reported as the main reason for vaping among 15- to 19-year-olds (31 per cent) and 20- to 24-year-olds (33 per cent), compared with 44 per cent of those aged 25 and older who reported using vaping to reduce, quit or avoid returning to smoking, Statistics Canada said.
Enticing fruit-themed flavours also make them more appealing to younger people, Butson said.
“It completely masks how harmful the products actually are,” she said.
While there is a perception that vaping may not be as harmful as cigarette smoking, Butson cautions against making that comparison.
The insurance industry currently does not differentiate between smoking a cigarette and vaping when it comes to deciding what rate your premium should be, Ostro said.
“Whether you use a nicotine product or smoke cigarettes, whether you smoke a pack a day or use a nicotine pack once a month, you’re a smoker. Those are the rules for every insurance company in Canada. One usage in the last 12 months constitutes smoking,” he said.
If there are two people with the exact same medical situation, but one of them has used nicotine and the other has not, the nicotine user will be charged almost double the price on their insurance premium, Ostro said.
Canada is a leader when it comes to youth nicotine use, Butson said, and policy measures are needed to reduce those numbers.
“We can reduce their use by attacking the appeal of the product and reducing access to the product. Things like reducing the really enticing flavours that are out there for vaping products right now could go a long way to help reduce those rates of use,” she said.
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