Canada’s Fertility Rate Hits Record Low of 1.25 Births per Woman: StatCan

A 6-week-old baby girl drinks from a nursing bottle in North Vancouver, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

Canada’s fertility rate reached an all-time low of 1.25 births per woman in 2024, a situation that puts the country in “ultra-low fertility” territory, Statistics Canada says.

The agency said in a Jan. 26 report that the declining fertility is due to a decreased birth rate, as well as more women not having children “by choice, by circumstance or because they are delaying motherhood.”

Statistics Canada said the fertility has been decreasing since 2009, although it fell by a smaller 1.6 percent in 2024 compared to a 5.3 percent decline in 2023 and 6.9 percent decline in 2022.

The report said Canada entered the “ultra-low fertility” group of countries, which have total fertility rates (TFRs) below 1.30, in 2023. Other countries in the category include Switzerland (1.29), Finland (1.25), Italy (1.18), Japan (1.15), and South Korea (0.75).

By contrast, the World Bank said that in 2023, the countries with the highest fertility were the African countries of Somalia, Chad, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had TFRs of 6.1.

Statistics Canada said the average age of mothers at the birth of their first child has also been rising in Canada for decades, and in 2024 it reached an all-time high of 31.7 years.

In 2024, more than 51 percent of Canadian women aged 20 to 49 years were not yet mothers. This included 88.5 percent of women in their 20s, 43.2 percent of women in their 30s, and 23.6 percent in their 40s.

The agency also said the proportion of women aged 50 years and older with no children has been increasing for more than 30 years, rising from 14.1 percent in 1990 to 17.4 percent in 2022.

Statistics Canada said university graduates and employed women were less likely to have any children, which could be explained by “family events being delayed to later ages because of the priority given to education and a career in the transition to adulthood.”

Women who practice religion were more likely to have children, with Statistics Canada saying “religion, through the values it promotes, also plays a key role in people’s decisions to become parents.”

The report said while around 10 percent of women in their 40s said they wanted to have children, “such plans are less likely to materialize at this age, given biological constraints and the risks associated with late pregnancies.”

Half of women aged 20 to 49 had no children, yet a similar proportion said they wanted to have some, with the report saying the “gap between intentions and reality” shows how factors like marital status, education levels, religious activity, and migration status can contribute to declining fertility rates.

Statistics Canada noted that these results show fertility does not solely depend on individuals’ preferences, but also reflect “complex socioeconomic and cultural factors, particularly for women under the age of 40 years.”

“For these women, their level of education and career paths can conflict with family trajectories and act as a barrier to having children, often forcing them to choose between having children and pursuing a career,” the agency said.