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17 Surprising Bottled Water Facts & Statistics in Canada: 2024 Update
Kristin Hitchcock
Last updated:
Note: This article’s statistics come from third-party sources and do not represent the opinions of this website.
Despite regular access to clean tap water, bottled water has remained popular in Canada. While its popularity hasn’t increased much, it hasn’t decreased, either. Due to its popularity, there has been much research on bottled water, especially regarding its market share.
However, some of these statistics may surprise you. We’ll review bottled water’s popularity in Canada and compare it to other drinks sold.
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The Bottled Water Market
1. Canada’s bottled water market is expected to grow by 5.79% annually.
(Statista)
While the bottled water market isn’t expected to grow very quickly, the market is slowly growing each year. Revenue is slowly increasing as the price of bottled water continues to increase. However, the revenue change of bottled water is a bit all over the place. COVID-19 sent out-of-home sales down by about 25%, which is a large portion of the bottled water market.
Image Credit: David Mark, Pixabay
2. The average person in Canada spends about $30.39 on bottled water each year.
(Statista)
Based on the population and revenue of this sector, the average person spends about $30.39 on bottled water annually. However, this is only an average. In reality, some people spend a lot on bottled water, and some never purchase it at all.
3. 44% of the revenue from bottled water comes from out-of-home consumption.
(Statista)
People are more likely to drink bottled water at home. However, water outside of the home is much more expensive. Therefore, despite representing far fewer liters of water sold, out-of-home water represents nearly half of bottled water’s revenue.
Image Credit: Piqsels
4. Bottled water prices have increased steadily over the years, especially out-of-home purchases.
(Statista)
Over the years, the price of bottled water has increased steadily. However, out-of-home bottled water has increased the most. On the other hand, bottled water made for drinking at home costs about the same, though it has gotten more expensive by a few cents on average.
Who Drinks Bottled Water?
5. The consumption of bottled water is spread pretty evenly over all age groups.
(Statista)
All age groups make up about 20% of the consumption of bottled water. However, 18–24-year-olds only drink about 13% of the bottled water in Canada. That’s compared to 35–44-year-olds, who drink about 23.4%. 55–64-year-olds make up about 19.5% of the market, making them the second-lowest demographic.
Image Credit: Piqsels
6. High-income families spend more on bottled water than other families.
(Statista)
Higher-income families spend slightly more on bottled water than other families. They represent about 36.6% of bottled water revenue. On the other hand, low-income families represent about 29.4% of bottled water revenue. Medium-income families are in the middle at 34%.
7. Both men and women drink bottled water in equal amounts.
(Statista)
There aren’t any significant differences between the genders when it comes to drinking bottled water. Both genders drink about 50% of all bottled water consumed in Canada.
Image Credit: Piqsels
8. Around 21% of people primarily drink bottled water at home.
(Statistics Canada)
Around 21% of people in Canada drink primarily bottled water at home. It’s these individuals who probably spend the most on bottled water. You can compare that to the 76% of people who primarily drink tap water at home. We’d like to see an explanation of why those people chose to drink mostly bottled water. However, that information doesn’t seem to be available.
What Bottled Waters Do They Drink?
9. The average person consumes more bottled water than carbonated soda in Canada.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
On average, bottled water is consumed slightly more often than carbonated soda in Canada. However, the percentage difference is very small at almost 3%. However, it’s important to note that only plain, packaged water is included in this statistic. Flavored water and enhanced water were measured separately.
Image Credit: sydneyra, Pixabay
10. Flavored water and enhanced water are not very popular, especially compared to plain water.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
On average, each Canadian drinks about 72.9 liters of packaged (plain) water. However, they only drink about 7.9 liters of flavored water and 1.8 liters of enhanced water. Therefore, most water purchased falls into the plain category.
11. Spring water is easily the most popular type of bottled water.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
Out of all the packaged waters consumed, spring is the most popular, making up the majority of water drank. In comparison, table water was drunk half as much as spring water. Mineral water is hardly drunk, though it grew the most in popularity.
Image Credit: Olya Adamovich, Pixabay
12. Carbonated water isn’t very popular unless the water is flavored.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
Most of the time, plain, carbonated water was not drunk. However, it does seem that this isn’t true for flavored water. People seemed to like carbonated water the most when it was flavored.
13. Branded bottled water is significantly more popular than private labels in most circumstances.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
Typically, branded bottled waters have a bigger piece of the market than private-label waters. However, packaged water was more likely to be purchased from a private label than flavored water. Shoppers seem more likely to care about the brand when the water is flavored. However, when it comes to plain water, the brand matters less.
14. Aquafina is the most popular brand for bottled water, though it hasn’t grown much over the last few years.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
Aquafina sold the most liters of water over the last few years (though that doesn’t mean they made the most revenue from the water). However, they have grown less over the last few years than other brands. For this reason, we may expect Aquafina to lose its top spot over the next few years if the trend continues.
15. People have begun to emphasize the health benefits of different waters, which likely drives sales.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
Waters with emphasized health benefits have enjoyed increased sales over the last few years. It seems that shoppers are more drawn to explanations of what the water does for them than descriptions of what’s in the water. Current marketing research encourages bottled water companies to emphasize the health benefits of water as an alternative to other drinks, such as energy drinks and soft drinks.
Millennials and Gen-Z seem particularly concerned about the possible benefits beyond hydration. Labels like “all-natural” and “low-calorie” are becoming more popular.
16. Lemon/lime-flavored water is the most popular.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
In Canada, lemon-and lime-flavored waters are the most popular (in terms of flavored waters—not counting plain water). It seems to be the most commonly purchased flavored water and the most common type of flavored water available. Orange came in second place, though it is much lower than lemon/lime-flavored waters.
This differs from the flavored water sold in the United States, which emphasizes flavors like guava.
17. Most packaged waters are bottled, though cans may be getting more popular.
(Canadian Department of Agriculture)
Bottles made of plastic are the most common type of bottled water. However, canned water has become more popular over the last few years. There could be several reasons for this, such as environmental concerns and the perception of canned water being “better.” Canned waters may also be used as replacements for other canned drinks, like soda, by health-conscious individuals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much bottled water do Canadians consume?
Currently, Canadians drink 72.3 liters of bottled water per person annually. This is a substantial increase, as it has grown by about 34% in the past 10 years. This trend will likely continue, with Canadians drinking more bottled water each year. However, trends also show that bottled water is replacing other drink choices, such as energy drinks and soda.
How many plastic water bottles are used each year in Canada?
Each year, Canadians consume about 2 billion plastic bottles. Surprisingly, this trend has increased despite tap water being safe and affordable. About a quarter of Canadians drink mostly bottled water at home, as opposed to tap water. Those of higher income are more likely to make this decision because they aren’t concerned about the increased cost of bottled water.
Who consumes the most water in Canada?
In regards to all water, agriculture uses the most water in Canada. However, farmers are not pouring bottles of water on their crops. Instead, they use primarily tap water (and other sorts of water). Bottled water consumption is pretty evenly spread across most demographics. For instance, almost all ages consume about the same amount of water.
How many Canadians use reusable water bottles?
In most households, at least one person owns a reusable water bottle. Furthermore, about 85% of individuals use that water bottle always or often. Therefore, reusable water bottles are pretty common. However, that doesn’t mean that the individual uses tap water to fill that water bottle.
What percentage of people use bottled water?
About a quarter of individuals in Canada use bottled water primarily at home. However, a much larger percentage of people will purchase bottled water when they are out of the home or occasionally at home. Therefore, many users of bottled water only use a little bottled water each year.
Those that use it primarily at home go through many bottles, in any case.
Conclusion
Despite having safe and clean drinking water, Canada also consumes a lot of bottled water yearly. This number is increasing each year, especially when it comes to flavored waters. Health-conscious individuals are likely to replace their usual soda with these flavored waters, in any case. However, we don’t have exact statistics on this change.
Who is more likely to drink water in Canada isn’t so clear-cut. The statistics of those drinking bottled water aren’t particularly different regarding age, economic status, or gender. It seems that the demographics are pretty even in this regard.
With that said, plain water is much more popular than other options. Flavored water is becoming more popular, but it isn’t particularly popular compared to plain water. Most plain water is still packaged in plastic bottles, but cans are becoming more popular.
Kristin Hitchcock is passionate about an array of DIY topics - from blacksmithing to making children's toys. She understands the importance of choosing the right tool for the right job and enjoys informing others on the options currently available on the market. She is a stronger believer that you can do practically anything yourself with the right tools and knowledge.
Kristin Hitchcock
