Quebec birthrate returns to pre-pandemic levels

A pregnant woman is shown in this stock image. (Pexels)

In 2021, the birthrate in Quebec returned to the level observed before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the province's statistics institute (ISQ).

An estimated 84,900 births occurred in Quebec in 2021, an increase of nearly 4 per cent compared to 2020, when approximately 81,850 births were recorded. In 2019, the number was 84,309.

The ISQ said that "the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic would have led to a decrease in conceptions, as indicated by a dip in births nine months later, in the last months of 2020 and early 2021."

However, a catch-up in births was observed as early as March 2021, nine months after the end of the first wave.

The total fertility rate stands at 1.58 children per woman in 2021 -- a similar level to that of 2018 and 2019. In 2020, it fell to 1.52.

However, the ISQ notes numbers have been trending downward overall since 2009.

Fertility was up among women aged 25 to 44 in 2021, while it declined among younger women to the lowest levels ever recorded.

Fertility increased in almost all regions of Quebec in 2021, with the exception of Montreal.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on June 15, 2022.