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OTTAWA, December 10, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Statistics Canada released its data on births for 1999 today revealing that Canada has reached an all-time low fertility rate of 1.528, where the replacement rate is 2.1. In total, 337,249 babies were born in 1999, down 1.5% from 1998. This was the ninth year of decline in live births.

The fertility rate, which estimates the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, continued its nine-year fall to a new low in 1999 of 1,528 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49. While women aged 25 to 29 had the highest fertility rate, 100.3 live births per 1,000 women that age, their fertility rate has decreased 24% since 1990.

The report indicates more women are delaying their first pregnancies into their 30s. In 1983, women in their 30s and older accounted for only 14% of live births to first-time mothers. By 1999, this proportion had more than doubled to 32%.

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.

See the Stats Can report at:  https://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/011210/d011210b.htm