New Brunswick Youth Health Behaviours: 2024-2025 Snapshot

Youth across Canada and in New Brunswick (NB) continue to face challenges that affect both their physical and mental health. According to Statistics Canada (2023), only 77% of Canadian youth reported their health as “excellent” or “very good”.¹ In NB, this percentage is even lower at 73%. 

Mental health presents a greater concern: according to the same source, only 56% of NB youth reported “excellent” or “very good” mental health, and the national average is 58%.¹ The New Brunswick Student Wellness and Education Survey (SWES) shows even worse results when it comes to youth in grades 6-12. Although the 2023-2024 SWES results indicated some signs of improvement in NB youth mental health, that progress was not sustained in 2024-2025.

Evidence from scientific literature^2-4 and the SWES shows that behaviours like getting enough sleep, staying active, and limiting screen time are interrelated and strongly linked to better health outcomes. The same is true for substance use. ^5-8 Yet the latest SWES data reveals that many NB youth are struggling to meet these guidelines.

According to the 2024-2025 NB SWES results:

• Physical activity: Only 24% of youth meet the guideline of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily.
• Recreational screen time: Just 12% of youth limit their leisure screen time to the recommended two hours or less per day.
• Sleep: About 61% of youth get at least eight hours of sleep on school nights as is recommended. 

NB Youth Health Behaviours (grades 6 to 12)

While this article focuses specifically on the behaviours from the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines¹⁰ and substance use, healthy eating is also an important health behaviour. According to the 2024-2025 SWES results, only 52% of NB youth reported eating vegetables or fruit 5 times or more per day.

According to the 2024-2025 NB SWES results:

Over 11,000 (21%) youth reported using one or more substances.

• Smoking: Over 3, 000 youth (6%) reported smoking cigarettes daily or occasionally.
• Vaping: Over 6,000 youth (12%) reported vaping daily or occasionally.
• Alcohol: Over 7,000 youth (16%) reported having had a drink of alcohol at least once a month in the last 12 months.
• Cannabis: Over 5,000 youth (11%) reported having used cannabis in the last 12 months.
   

While some of these percentages may seem small, they still warrant attention, as substance use is detrimental to youth’s health and development.

While no region is immune to the challenges facing youth today, it’s important to recognize that youth behaviours vary greatly across New Brunswick’s 33 communities. This variation highlights the need for locally tailored approaches when supporting youth health and well-being.

Interpretation note: When it comes to meeting the national guidelines, a higher percentage is better. For example, a higher percentage of youth meeting physical activity guidelines indicates a more positive outcome.

To better understand how your own community is doing, follow these steps:

Where is my community?

To find your community’s results, click on the hyperlink  for the indicator that interests you (below). This will take you to the detailed indicator page. Once there, scroll down to see results broken down by community.

Why Confidence Intervals Matter

When reviewing your community’s data, it’s essential to pay attention to the confidence intervals. If the confidence intervals of two communities overlap, we cannot say with certainty that one has a higher or lower value than the other. They are likely similar once we account for the uncertainty in the data.

Health Behaviours by Community : Highlights

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Physical Activity 

The percentage of youth meeting the guideline of at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day ranges from 18% in the Shippagan Area (the lowest) to 32% in the New Maryland Area (the highest). 

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Recreational Screen Time

On the lowest end of the spectrum, only 6% of youth attending school in the Hillsborough Area adhere to the recommended maximum of two hours of daily leisure screen time. The New Maryland Area is on the highest end, with 17% of youth meeting the guideline.

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Sleep

The percentage of youth who report getting at least eight hours of sleep on school nights varies from 51% in the Minto Area to 75% in Dieppe and Memramcook. 

Communities with Consistent Patterns across Health Behaviours 

The percentage of youth who meet the national guidelines for physical activity, screen time, and sleep is consistently higher than the NB average in the New Maryland Area, and consistently lower than the NB average in the Saint John Area.

Substance Use by Community : Highlights

Interpretation note: For substance use, a lower percentage is better, with 0% being the ideal.

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Smoking

The percentage of youth who reported smoking cigarettes daily or occasionally ranges from 14% in the Perth-Andover Area to 3% in Dieppe and Memramcook.

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Vaping

Similar to smoking, the percentage of youth who reported vaping daily or occasionally is the highest in the Perth-Andover Area (21%) and the lowest in Dieppe and Memramcook (6%).

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Alcohol Use

Monthly alcohol consumption for youth peaks at 35% in the Kedgwick Area, compared to 8% in Moncton, the lowest reported. 

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Cannabis Use

On the highest end of the spectrum, 26% of youth attending school in the Perth-Andover Area reported using cannabis in the past 12 months. The Caraquet Area is on the lowest end at 5%.

Communities with Consistent Patterns in Substance Use

The percentage of youth who reported smoking daily or occasionally, vaping daily or occasionally, drinking alcohol at least once a month, or using cannabis in the last 12 months is consistently higher than the NB average in the Perth-Andover Area, the Douglas Area, and the Salisbury Area, and consistently lower than the NB average in Moncton.

The evidence clearly shows that students in NB are struggling to adopt healthy behaviours related to physical activity, sleep, and recreational screen time, and that a notable number are using substances.

While none of the 33 New Brunswick Health Council communities have 100% compliance with the national guidelines for health behaviours, many vary from the NB average. This suggests that, rather than a one-size-fits-all strategy, strategies tailored to the different local realities might be more successful in terms of increasing adherence to the guidelines and reducing substance use.

Addressing these public health concerns will require coordinated and sustained effort. Policymakers, health and education professionals, community leaders and families all have a role to play in creating supportive environments and implementing targeted interventions for youth, especially in communities facing the greatest barriers. Every young person in New Brunswick deserves the chance to grow up healthy—and that starts with environments that support healthier choices.

¹ Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0948-01  Health indicator statistics for youth aged 12 to 17 years, youth reported

² Chaput, J. P., Willumsen, J., Bull, F., Chou, R., Ekelund, U., Firth, J., Jago, R., Ortega, F. B., & Katzmarzyk, T. (2020). 2020 WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour for children and adolescents aged 5-17 years: summary of the evidence. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 17(141). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-020-01037-z

³ Rollo, S., Antsygina, O., & Tremblay, M. S. (2020). The whole day matters: Understanding 24-hour movement guideline adherence and relationships with health indicators across the lifespan. Journal of Sport and Health Science,9, 493-510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.07.004

⁴ Sampasa-Kanyinga, H., Colman, I., Goldfield, G. S., Janssen, I., Wang, J., Podinic, I., Tremblay, M. S., Saunders, T. J., Sampson, M., & Chaput, J.-P. (2020). Combination of physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep duration and their associations with depressive symptoms and other mental health problems in children and adolescents: a systematic review. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity,17(72). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-020-00976-x

⁵ Banks, E., Yazidjoglou, A., Brown, S., Nguyen, M., Martin, M., Beckwith, K., Daluwatta, A., Campbell, S., & Joshy, G. (2023). Electronic cigarettes and health outcomes: Umbrella and systematic review of the global evidence. Medical Journal of Australia, 218(6), 267–275. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51890

⁶ Butler, A., King, N., Battista, K., Pickett, W., Patte, K. A., Elgar, F. J., Craig, W., & Leatherdale, S. T. (2023). Mental health and cannabis use among Canadian youth: Integrated findings from cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. International Journal of Drug Policy, 112(103926). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103926

⁷ Castro, E. M., Lotfipour, S., & Lestlie, F. M. (2023). Nicotine on the developing brain. Pharmacological Research, 190(106716). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2023.106716

⁸ Lees, B., Debenham, J., & Squeglia, M. (2021). Alcohol and cannabis use and the developing brain. Alcohol Research, 41(1). https://doi.org/10.35946/arcr.v41.1.11

⁹ Statistics Canada. (2023, September 13). Health of Canadians (Catalogue No. 82 570 X; CS82 570E PDF). Ottawa: Author. Retrieved from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-570-x/82-570-x2023001-eng.htm    

¹⁰ Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. (2025). Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (5–17 years): An integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep. Retrieved August 21, 2025, from CSEP website: https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/children-youth/