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Canadians are a whole lot fatter than they think, but they are also smoking considerably less, according to the latest national health indicators.

Statistics Canada released Tuesday its annual Canadian Community Health Survey, a comprehensive snapshot of 37 different health indicators in 2005. For the first time, Statscan relied not only on self-assessed body mass indexes (BMIs), but actually measured roughly 5,000 of its 133,000 respondents.

Men were found on average to overestimate their height, while women were more likely to underestimate their weight. Overall, Statscan found, Canadians were underestimating their weight by nearly 9 per cent, senior analyst Vincent Dale said.

Obesity rates have remained relatively stable at 15.5 per cent, up only 0.6 per cent over 2003 (0.9 per cent for men, 0.3 per cent), but that is small consolation for the researchers at Statscan.

"These small differences are relatively unimportant compared to the bigger picture that the obesity rate is 8.8 per cent higher than we had previously thought for years," Mr. Dale said.

Canadians get slimmer the farther West they go. All four of the Atlantic provinces have higher-than-average obesity rates, with waistlines becoming trimmer toward the West. Nunavit, however, recorded the highest obesity rate — 25.9 per cent of the population. B.C. recorded the rate, at 13.2 per cent.

Perhaps the most significant improvement in Canadians' health has been on the smoking front.

"The most interesting finding we think, is that the age group 12 to 17 now has the lowest smoking rate of any age group," Mr. Dale said. "It used to be the oldest group [who had the lowest rates]."

The proportion of young people who have never smoked as also increased.

"We know form other research that if someone hasn't started smoking by the age of 18, they're very unlikely to start smoking at an older age," he said. "What you can conclude is that as these young people move into adulthood, the smoking rate should continue to decrease."

There is an unfortunate downside, however, to being young as it relates to smoking, Mr. Dale said. Young people are almost more than twice as likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke on a daily basis — 40 per cent, compared with 23 per cent of the general population.

Statscan measured exposure to second-hand smoke in three different areas — at home, in vehicles, and in public places — and found that each of the three places showed a decrease, especially in public places where it dropped by 5 per cent. Overall, exposure has dropped 6 per cent for all three areas.

In the six provinces where a smoking ban has been implemented in public spaces since 2003 and 2005, that number of people exposed to second-hand smoke 10 per cent.

Everywhere in Canada, except the Yukon, there has been an increase in people living in smoke-free homes, up from 57 per cent in 2003 to 74 per cent in 2005. South Vancouver Island has the highest percentage of smoke-free homes at 82 per cent.

"We're not sure what's happening in the Yukon," Mr. Dale said.

B.C. has the lowest overall smoking rates, at 17.8 per cent. Nunavit recorded the highest rate at 52.8 per cent of the population, but it also marked largest percentage of people who quit smoking in 2005.

Quebeckers were found to be the most stressed Canadians. About 26 per cent reported that their days were either quite or extremely stressful, compared with the national average of 23.2 per cent.

"Quebec is the only province that is higher than the national average," Mr. Dale said. "The four Atlantic provinces are all below the national average."

Newfoundlanders are the most laid back in the country. Only 15.2 per cent said they experience quite a lot of stress. They also have greater than average poor-health conditions, including smoking, obesity, chronic diseases and poor physical health routines.

Perhaps more interestingly, then, is that Newfoundland and Labrador has the greatest percentage of people who consider themselves to be in good health. In the province, 62.7 per cent — compared with the national average of 60.6 — consider themselves to be healthy. That belief is greater even than the 60.3 per cent of residents of B.C., which has what would be considered the highest standard of health, Mr. Dale said.

"[Newfoundland's] behaviours are pointing in the wrong direction, their measures of actual health status are not so good, but they're not stressed and they consider their health to be quite good," Mr. Dale said.