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About one in three Canadians has a tattoo, according to a 2024 national survey by Halifax-based Narrative Research. That’s up from about one in five in a 2011 Ipsos poll, although the two surveys used different methods.
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1 in 333% of Canadian adults have at least one tattoo.
Narrative Research with the Logit Group, 1,230 Canadian adults, March 2024
Below, we’ve gathered the most reliable survey data we could find on tattoos in Canada, the United States and Germany: who has them, how many, whether people regret them, and how attitudes are changing. Every figure links to its source.
About three-quarters of tattooed Canadians are happy with their tattoos.
32% of US adults have a tattoo (Pew Research Center, 2023).
About 1 in 5 people in Germany aged 14 and over had a tattoo in 2016.
Narrative Research with the Logit Group, 1,230 Canadian adults, March 2024
31%have one tattoo
28%have five or more
Narrative Research with the Logit Group, 1,230 Canadian adults, March 2024
Narrative Research, working with the Logit Group, surveyed 1,230 Canadian adults online in March 2024. The survey found:
Because it was an online panel, the survey doesn’t report a margin of error.
Narrative Research with the Logit Group, 1,230 Canadian adults, March 2024
Ipsos 2011 and Narrative Research 2024. The two surveys used different methods, so read this as a trend, not an exact rise.
Ipsos for Global Television, 1,021 Canadians, December 2011
In December 2011, an Ipsos poll for Global Television of 1,021 Canadians found:
Comparing 22% in 2011 with 33% in 2024 suggests tattoos have become more common in Canada, but the surveys used different methods, so treat the change as a trend rather than an exact increase.
Pew Research Center, 8,480 US adults, July 2023
Pew Research Center surveyed 8,480 US adults in July 2023:
32% of US adults have a tattoo, and 22% have more than one.
Women (38%) are more likely than men (27%) to have one.
69% of tattooed adults say honouring or remembering someone or something was a reason for at least one tattoo.
24% of tattooed adults have ever regretted getting a tattoo.
About 8 in 10 US adults say society has become more accepting of people with tattoos over the past 20 years.
A study in the German public health journal Bundesgesundheitsblatt analysed three nationally representative surveys (2003, 2009 and 2016). By 2016, about one in five people in Germany aged 14 and over had at least one tattoo, and tattoos were most common among adults aged 25–34. People with tattoos came from every education level.
Other German surveys have used different methods and found different figures, so it’s best to quote one survey at a time.
Pew Research Center 2023 and Ipsos 2011
A 2023 survey of 3,033 US adults, published in the open-access journal Cureus, found regret was more likely for tattoos on the face, neck, hands, wrists or fingers, tattoos done because of peer pressure or while impaired, and tattoos that caused a side effect. Getting a tattoo in memory of someone was linked with no regret. It’s a single survey in a lighter-reviewed journal, so treat it as an early signal.
Planning your first piece? Read your first tattoo: what to expect.
Survey results depend on how and when each survey was run. We’ve linked every source so you can read the full methods.
Compiled by Tattoo Lab, a tattoo and piercing studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
About 33%, according to a 2024 Narrative Research survey of 1,230 Canadian adults.
Millennials. In the 2024 Narrative Research survey, 51% of Canadian millennials had a tattoo, compared with 43% of Gen X, 35% of Gen Z and 17% of baby boomers.
Women, in recent surveys. In Canada, 38% of women and 28% of men have a tattoo (Narrative Research, 2024). In the US, the figures are 38% and 27% (Pew Research Center, 2023).
No. About three-quarters of tattooed Canadians say they’re happy with their tattoos (Narrative Research, 2024), and 24% of tattooed US adults have ever regretted one (Pew Research Center, 2023).
32% of US adults have a tattoo, and 22% have more than one, according to Pew Research Center’s 2023 survey.
A 2019 study using US survey data found no evidence of an employment or wage penalty for people with tattoos, although some earlier research found hiring managers can view visible tattoos negatively.
Thinking about your first tattoo, or your fifth? Send us your idea and we’ll help you plan a piece you’ll be happy with for years.
