Despite some fluctuations, the total fertility rate in Canada has been below the replacement level for over 40 years. In fact, 1971 was the last year the replacement-level fertility of 2.1 children per woman was reached—meaning that couples, on average, had produced enough children to replace themselves.
In 2011, the total fertility rate was 1.61 children per woman, up slightly from the record low of 1.51 about a decade earlier.
Fertility patterns—specifically the number of children born and the average age at childbearing—affect the dynamics of population growth and the age structure of Canadian society, as well as family formation and household composition.
This demographic shift over the last 150 years has resulted in a transition from a country with a relatively young and growing population to one with an aging population, which is increasingly reliant on immigration for population growth.
