Last year Canada’s birth rate reached a new low, driven by fertility decreases in a majority of provinces.
According to Statistics Canada data, in 2023 Canada placed among several countries with the lowest fertility rates in the world.
The data, released Wednesday showed that the province with the lowest fertility rate was British Columbia, at a rate of 1.00 children per woman.
“Canada has now joined the group of ‘lowest-low’ fertility countries, including South Korea, Spain, Italy, and Japan, with 1.3 children per woman or less. In comparison, the total fertility rate for the United States was 1.62 per woman in 2023,” reads the Statistics Canada study.
A fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is required for a population to grow naturally, as 2.0 would be the minimum requirement to sustain the population. The only province or territory in Canada with such a rate in 2023 was Nunavut, at 2.48, followed by Saskatchewan at 1.63.
Canada’s fertility rate has been falling year-over-year since 2008 when it was 1.70. Statistics Canada began tracking the data in 1991 when the fertility rate peaked at 1.72.
Additionally, the average childbearing age in Canada has been increasing steadily since the data began being tracked when it was around 27.5. It has since increased to over 31.5 years old.
This trend of declining fertility and delayed childbearing has been the subject of numerous studies.
Cardus conducted a previous extensive research study in Jan. 2023 on why half of Canadian women were falling short of their fertility desires, which concluded with four key takeaways.
The first key finding concluded that, on average, women in Canada had about 0.5 fewer children than they wanted by the end of their reproductive years.
“Nearly half of women at the end of their reproductive years have had fewer children than they wanted,” added the study.
Also, the study concluded that women with the number of children they desired were happier than those who did not have as many children as they wanted.
The reasons for women not having as many children as they wanted varied, but the study said that some key factors were that women found children burdensome, that parenting was intensive and time-consuming, and that women valued self-development over having children.
“The view that parenting is demanding is a bigger factor for low fertility than is housing or childcare costs,” reads the study.
However, the study concluded that fertility rates and desires rose in Canada with income, unlike most other countries.
“Children increasingly come as a capstone to material and relational success, and thus later in life, rather than as a building block for family life,” reads the study.
“The timeline that most women follow for school, work, self-development, and marriage simply leaves too few economically stable years left to achieve the families they want,” it added. “This dynamic leaves Canadian women with fewer children than they would like, alongside reduced life satisfaction.”
According to the World Bank Group, the global fertility rate in 2022 was 2.3. Based on those same numbers, only 25 countries ranked below Canada in fertility rate. Over one hundred countries ranked above them.
As countries’ average income rose worldwide, their fertility rates fell, despite the opposite occurring in Canada.
In 2023, a total of 351,878 births occurred in Canada, almost exactly the same amount as the year prior.
The country’s fertility rate was highest for mothers between the ages of 30 to 34 years old and lowest for those between the ages of 45 to 49 years old.
The Cardus study recommended that policymakers shift their focus from unwanted children to “missing” children, meaning children that women want but do not have, which far outnumbers the former.
However, it’s not so simple, considering maybe women are valuing self-development over children, only to regret that decision later in life.
“Unless Canadian women see children as part of the process of self-development and discovery, rather than a prize for successful completion of it, the capstone model will continue to weigh on many women’s ability to achieve their family aspirations,” reads the study.
