Per Capita Soft Drink Consumption

Per capita soft drink consumption has considerably decreased over the past five years, mainly due to the aging of the Canadian population. According to research from Statistics Canada, soft drink consumption by adults sharply decreases with age. In a 2008 survey (latest data available), 47.0% of men and 27.0% of women aged between 19 and 30 consumed soft drinks the previous day. However, by age 71 and older, only 10.0% of men and women consumed soft drinks regularly. Since 2008, the median age of the Canadian population has increased over time, causing per capita soft drink consumption to decline.

Soft drinks typically have very high sugar content and consumption has slowed in recent years due to growing public concern regarding the health effects of consuming soft drinks. For instance, according to data from Statistics Canada, the adult obesity rate in Canada has increased over the past decade. Obesity is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure, bone and joint problems and other medical problems. In response to this trend, many consumers have become more health conscious, limiting their soft drink consumption in recent years. Furthermore, soft drink consumption exhibited additional declines in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers limited spending on soft drinks, particularly as health concerns intensified.

Despite an economic reopening in 2021, per capita consumption kept inclining in part as these concerns remained present primarily as variants kept a sizable swath of consumers heavily conscious about their health. In 2022, per capita consumption of soft drinks continued to scale down following inflationary pressures in the period, which made the prices of many items higher at the time, curtailing more potential growth for soft drinks in the period because of substitutable alternatives in the market like water and juices in which some are healthier than them which scaled up competitive barriers for this type of beverage in the period, especially during a period when prices for all items rose which pushed consumers to purchase more goods that provide more utility for them while staying within their budget, which includes some substitutes that were priced reasonably and at the same time provide more nutritional value for them. The imposition of a special tax on sugar drinks in certain parts of the country also played a role against growth, making these types of goods more expensive in the year when most goods were priced higher, scaling away their appeal for cost-conscious consumers. In 2025, per capita consumption of soft drinks is set to continually scale down, with these factors playing a role against growth in the period and a potential recession in the year, which will work against growth as consumers save instead of spend on more items.