Half of Canadian women are having fewer children than they would like to have in their reproductive years, according to a new survey.
A survey was carried out of almost 3,000 Canadian women aged 18 to 44 from three groups—women born in Canada who spoke English, French-speaking women born in Canada, and foreign-born women living in Canada.
The women were asked two questions: “How many children would you say is ideal for a family to have?” and “If you could choose exactly the number of children to have in your whole life, how many would that be?”
Almost half of the women responded that they had “missing” children, meaning they wanted more children than they have. Very few women surveyed felt they had “excess” children, meaning undesired births they did not want.
The report looked at what factors influence women’s decision to have more children, and concluded that low fertility rates among Canadian women are not because they desire fewer children, but rather, 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.”
The report indicates that women who had fewer children than desired reported less life satisfaction. “Women who accomplish their fertility desires are happier than women who have more or fewer children than they desire,” said the report.
One of the most influential reasons Canadian women have fewer children is “the view that parenting is demanding,” which notes the report, is a bigger factor for low fertility than concerns over housing or childcare costs. Overall, women nearing the end of their reproductive years have had about 0.5 fewer children than they desire on average.
In the 1940s to 1960s, Canadian women tended to say that they desired three or four children, noted the report. But by the 1980s, there had been a decline to around two or three. In the 1990s, women surveyed intended to have fewer children than they desired, roughly two children.
In the most recent survey, the report “found lower fertility intentions than any prior survey, at around 1.85 children per woman, as well as lower fertility desires, at around 2.2 children per woman. This is consistent with a December 2021 Statistics Canada report suggesting that Canadian women’s fertility desires fell during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Older Canadian women had a higher desire for children than younger women, as do women living in the Prairie provinces, who also indicated a higher intention to have at least two children.
Women in Atlantic Canada had the lowest desire for more children as well as low intentions of having more children. Quebec women reported the highest drop in desire for children compared to other provinces.
However, noted the report, in every province, women in general intend to have fewer children than they actually desire or feel would be ideal.
“Canada’s current fertility rate suggests that women under 30 years of age will actually have only about 1.4 children on average, if current trends continue,” indicates the report.
