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StatsCan Reveals Canada's Birth Rate Continues to Drop: at All-Time Low

OTTAWA, April 19, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Statistics Canada revealed today that the rate at which women are having babies has dropped to an all-time low. The birth rate, as measured in 2002, dropped to 10.5 live births for every 1,000 population, the lowest since vital statistics began to be produced nationally in 1921. The rate represents a drop of 25.4% in the last 10 years alone.

In total, 328,802 babies were born in 2002, down 1.5% from the previous year. It was the 11th decline in the past 12 years.

The fertility rate, an indication of how many babies a child-bearing woman would have in her lifetime, indicates that Canada has one of the world's lowest, at 1.5.

The fertility rate is an indication of "replacement rate," meaning that 1.5 babies are born for every woman age 15 to 49, or for every man and woman in the population. In order for a population to simply maintain at its current level, 2.1 is an absolute minimum. Canada's fertility rate is an indication of an absolute decline in population.

High levels of immigration are the main reason that Canada's overall population has not yet begun to decline. Canadian governments appear to have a strong preference for immigration to stabilize the population and meet labour force demands while at the same time maintaining policies that strongly discourage Canadians from having children.

Internationally, fertility in Canada falls more or less midway between industrialized nations such as France, Australia and the United Kingdom, which have higher fertility rates, and Italy, Japan and Germany, which have lower rates.

The biggest impact on the national statistics came from declines in live births in Ontario (-2.4%) and Quebec (-1.7%). Combined, these two provinces accounted for almost 4,400 fewer live births in 2002, representing 89% of the net decrease for the entire country.

Twenty years ago, the majority of live births in Canada were to mothers aged 20 to 29 years. Mothers in their 20s gave birth to 66.2% of babies in 1982. Only 47.9% of births were to mothers in this age group in 2002.

Since that time, the proportion of births to mothers in their 30s has grown, particularly for mothers in their early 30s. By 2002, 44.8% of births were to mothers aged 30 to 39, up from only 23.0% of births in 1982.

Read the related LifeSiteNews.com report, "United Nations Meeting To Address 'Major Implications' Of World 'Population Decline,'" at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/020306.html

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