Fertility rates in Atlantic Canada among lowest in the country: StatsCan

Maritime fertility among lowest in Canada Fertility rates in the Maritimes rank among the lowest in the country.

Fertility rates in Atlantic Canada were among the lowest in the country last year, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.

A report published last month by the agency shows Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island had the third, fourth and fifth lowest fertility rates in 2023.

Nova Scotia had a fertility rate of 1.05 children per woman, while Newfoundland and Labrador had 1.08 and P.E.I. had 1.16.

Meanwhile, New Brunswick had the seventh lowest rate at an average of 1.24 children per woman – slightly lower than the national average of 1.26.

Yukon had the second lowest fertility rate of 1.01 children per woman, while British Columbia had the lowest at 1.00.

"The main reason I think that a lot of parents don't have many children now is because both parents usually have to work so they just can't afford children or more children so they decide not to have any," said Ethel Wentzell with the Federation of Foster Families in Nova Scotia.

The highest fertility rate in Canada was in Nunavut, where the territory saw an average of 2.48 kids per woman.

Statistics Canada defines fertility rate as “an estimate of the average number of live births a woman can be expected to have in her reproductive life if she experienced, at each age, the fertility rates observed in a given year.”

The agency says the country’s fertility rate has been generally declining for over 15 years and has now reached a new low.

“This decline from 2022 to 2023 mostly reflects an increase in the number of women of childbearing age in 2023, as the number of births was similar in both years,” the report says.

“Canada has now joined the group of ‘lowest-low’ fertility countries, including South Korea, Spain, Italy and Japan, with 1.3 children per woman or less. In comparison, the total fertility rate for the United States was 1.62 per woman in 2023.”

Statistics Canada says 351,477 babies were born in Canada in 2023.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic's Hafsa Arif