The number of births in Quebec has remained stable in 2011.
Numbers published Tuesday by Quebec's Institute of Statistics (ISQ) shows that 88,500 children were born in Quebec in 2011, compared to 88,300 in 2010.
That's only a modest increase compared to the leaps made from 2000 to 2009, when the number of births in Quebec went from 72,010 to 88,891.
The steepest increase was made between 2005 and 2008.
The bulletin "Glance at demographics" shows that Quebec women were averaging 1.69 births each in 2011, compared to 1.70 in 2010.
That's more than the 1.45 births per woman in 2000, but still far below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman needed for a stable population.
The numbers range throughout the province. In Montreal the birth rate is 1.5 children per woman, while on the North Shore it's about 2 children per woman, and 2.8 children in the Far North.
With files from The Canadian Press
