Women over 30 help birthrate rise in 2007

Canadian women over 30 helped fuel another banner year for births in Canada in 2007, as Canada's fertility rate hit a 15-year high, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

Women aged 30 to 34 gave birth to 115,415 of the 367,864 babies born in 2007, more than any other age group and the second consecutive year they led all age groups. And all women 30 and over accounted for 56 per cent of all births.

The trend of more women having children later in life helped Canada hit a number of fertility milestones.

• The total number of births was the highest since 1995 and the fifth consecutive annual increase.
• The fertility rate, or  the average number of children per woman, increased from 1.59 in 2006 to 1.66 in 2007, the highest since 1992.
• Total births from 2006 to 2007 increased by 13,247, or 3.7 per cent, the fastest annual increase since 1989.

The increase in births from 2006 is all the more surprising because 2006 was itself a banner year for births.

Baby boom happening around the world

The baby boom is not unique to Canada, Statistics Canada said in its report.  Other countries with low fertility rates, such as the United States, Australia, Spain and Sweden, have also experienced an increase in their fertility rates.

Canada's fertility rate of 1.66 is still below the replacement level fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman, or the level of fertility the population needs to replace itself from one generation to the next.

In 2007, Canada's four most populated provinces — Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia — accounted for 83 per cent of all births, with Alberta seeing the largest increase in births in the year.

Women in Alberta gave birth to 49,028 babies in 2007, up 8.4 per cent from the previous year.

The total fertility rate increased in all provinces and territories except the Yukon between 2006 and 2007.

Nationally, Nunavut has the highest fertility rate in Canada, with 2.97 children per woman, while Saskatchewan leads the provinces with a fertility rate of 2.03. Newfoundland and Labrador has the lowest fertility rate, with 1.46 children per woman.