Quebec's birth rate dips to lowest level in nearly 20 years

(file photo)

Quebec saw a 3 per cent drop in the number of births between 2022 and 2023, according to data released Wednesday by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ).

This brings births to their lowest level since 2005.

The ISQ estimates that 77,950 babies were born in Quebec in 2023. The decline in the number of births has continued since 2013, when Quebec recorded 88,900 births.

The other Canadian provinces have yet to release their data on births that took place last year, but ISQ demographer Frédéric Fleury-Payeur expects them to see a decline, too.

"It's important to put this into an international context, where we're seeing a decline just about everywhere on earth," said Fleury-Payeur.

There are many reasons for the decline in births. Fleury-Payeur pointed to the cost of living and the difficulty of accessing property. Quite simply, access to housing, for example, to upgrade from a 4 1/2 to a 5 1/2, is difficult in today's housing market.

The demographer added that the desire to have children is declining, and this may be linked to concerns about the environment in particular.

The difficulty of forming stable unions is also an area of increasing study in an attempt to understand the influence this may have on the desire to procreate.

The total fertility rate has fallen once again, to 1.38 children per woman in 2023, one of the lowest fertility rates in Quebec's history: "This is the second-lowest level ever recorded in Quebec, after 1.36 in 1987," Fleury-Payeur said.

On a Canadian scale, Quebec's fertility rate is higher than that of most other provinces.

In recent years, a peak of 1.73 children per woman was reached in 2008 and 2009, but since then, the trend has been heading downward, with the exception of the upturn in 2021. According to the ISQ, this exceptional figure can be explained by the fact that some Quebecers decided to postpone having a child because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Among the highlights of the demographic review, it noted that 37 per cent of babies born in Quebec in the past year have at least one parent born in another country. This proportion tends to increase over the years. It was 21 per cent in 2000, then it reached 33 per cent in 2019.

Furthermore, the babies born in 2023 continued the seasonal pattern seen in Quebec for many years. According to the Quebec trend, more children are born in summer than in any other season, with winter being the slowest period. In 2023, September was still the month with the highest number of daily births, at 227 per day.

The Canadian Press health content is funded through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for editorial choices.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 8, 2024.