New data from Statistics Canada shows the fertility rate in Canada has hit an all-time low.
The agency found that Canada’s fertility rate had dropped to 1.26 births per woman in 2023, which falls beneath the previous low of 1.33 births in 2022.
British Columbia had the lowest rate in Canada at one birth per woman.
A StatCan study released last year found several factors have been affecting family planning for young adults, including the high cost of living.
“I think it will have longer-term implications,” Don Kerr, a demographer with King’s College, told Global News.
“The size of our family networks is going to get smaller and smaller. That has consequences because people rely on family in a lot ways — economically, emotionally — and it becomes particularly important as we grow older as well.”
The latest drop means Canada has joined a group of countries, including Italy and Japan, with a fertility rate below 1.3.