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The Daily. Wednesday, June 16, 1999
Women are increasingly starting families at age 30 and older. Almost one-third (31%) of births in 1997 were to first-time mothers in this age group, compared with 19% one decade earlier.
Ontario led the national trend of women starting and continuing their childbearing in their 30s and up. Fully half of all births in Ontario were to mothers age 30 and older.
In 1997, 348,598 babies were born in Canada, down 4.8% compared with 1996. This was the largest annual decline in the decade from 1987 to 1997. The total fertility rate reached a record low in 1997 at 1,552 births per 1,000 women (age 15 to 49).
Almost one-third (31%) of first births in 1997 were to mothers aged 30 and older, compared with 19% one decade earlier. These women gave birth to 46,899 of the 149,998 first-born babies in 1997. Women in their 20s continued to account for the majority of first births, but their share of the total slipped to 58% from 70% in 1987. Teenagers accounted for 11% of first births throughout the decade.
The proportion of births to first-time mothers aged 30 and older ranged from fewer than 20% in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories to more than 35% in Ontario and British Columbia. Ten years earlier, the proportion of births to first-time mothers 30 years and over was lower in all provinces and territories, ranging from 9% to 26%.
Women in their 20s accounted for the majority of first-born babies in 1997 in all provinces and Yukon. Slightly less than 10% of first births in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia were to teenage mothers, compared with 37% of such first births in the Northwest Territories.
Throughout the 1987 to 1997 period, an increasing proportion of births have been to mothers aged 30 and older and this trend was not restricted to first births. In 1997, 44% of live births were to women in this age group, compared with only 31% in 1987. In contrast, the proportion of live births to women in their 20s slipped to 50% in 1997 from 63% ten years earlier. Nationally, the proportion of births to teenagers remained at 6% throughout the decade.
The proportion of births to mothers aged 30 and older increased in every province and territory in the last decade. In British Columbia, mothers in this age group had 47% of the babies in 1997, up substantially from 34% ten years earlier.
In Ontario, the proportion of births to mothers aged 30 and older rose from 33% in 1987 to 50% in 1997, which was higher than the proportion of births to mothers in their 20s (45%).
In the Atlantic and Prairie provinces and the territories, the majority of live births were to mothers in their 20s; the proportions ranged from a high of 59% in New Brunswick to a low of 51% in Yukon.
Births to teenage mothers in 1997 were as low as 5% of births in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, and as high as 17% in the Northwest Territories and 11% in Saskatchewan. The proportion of births to teenage mothers remained fairly stable in the last decade in the provinces, but the proportions varied somewhat in the territories. However, these latter estimates should be viewed cautiously due to the small populations in the territories.
Despite an increase in the early 1990s, the fertility rate, at 1,552 live births per 1,000 women (age 15 to 49), has fallen below the former record low of 1987. It now stands at less than half of the peak reached in 1959, when there were 3,935 births per 1,000 women.
In 1997, the Northwest Territories had the highest fertility rate, at 2,583 live births per 1,000 women, while Newfoundland had the lowest rate, at 1,269 live births per 1,000.
In terms of age groups, the fertility rate was highest for women aged 25 to 29, at 103.9 live births per 1,000 women that age, followed by 84.4 live births per 1,000 women aged 30 to 34. In 1997, the national fertility rate was lower for all age groups under 30 compared with 1987.
In 1997, Ontario had the highest fertility rates for women in their 30s and some of the lowest rates for women in their 20s. In this province, fertility rates for teenagers and women in their 20s were lower in 1997 compared with 1987, but they were higher for women aged 30 and older. For example, the fertility rate for women aged 30 to 34 increased from 79.7 births per 1,000 in 1987 to 91.3 in 1997; for women aged 35 to 39, the rate increased from 26.8 to 38.1 births per 1,000 women over this decade.
Infant mortality (the death of children under one year of age) was down to 5.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1997, compared with 5.6 per 1,000 in 1996 and 7.3 per 1,000 in 1987. The infant mortality rate for girls, at 5.0 deaths per 1,000 live births, remains lower than that for boys, at 6.0 deaths per 1,000.
The infant mortality rate was lowest in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia in 1997 (4.4 deaths per 1,000 live births). The rate in Quebec, which had dropped to a record low of 4.6 in 1996, rose to 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 1997.
Infant mortality
1997
| Infant deaths | Live births(1) | Infant mortality rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (Deaths per 1,000 live births) | |||
| Canada | 1,928 | 348,598 | 5.5 |
| Newfoundland | 28 | 5,416 | 5.2 |
| Prince Edward Island | 7 | 1,591 | 4.4 |
| Nova Scotia | 44 | 9,952 | 4.4 |
| New Brunswick | 45 | 7,922 | 5.7 |
| Quebec | 444 | 79,774 | 5.6 |
| Ontario | 728 | 133,004 | 5.5 |
| Manitoba | 110 | 14,655 | 7.5 |
| Saskatchewan | 114 | 12,860 | 8.9 |
| Alberta | 178 | 36,905 | 4.8 |
| British Columbia | 210 | 44,577 | 4.7 |
| Yukon | 4 | 474 | 8.4 |
| Northwest Territories | 16 | 1,468 | 10.9 |
| 1 | Excludes births to non-residents of Canada and stillbirths. |
To obtain data, contact Client Custom Services (613-951-1746). For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods, and data quality of this release, contact Patricia Tully (613-951-1759) or Doreen Duchesne (613-951-6379), Health Statistics Division.
First live births, by mother's age group
| 1987 | 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother's age group(1) | ||||||
| Under 20 | 20 to 29 | 30 plus | Under 20 | 20 to 29 | 30 plus | |
| % | ||||||
| Canada(2) | 11.3 | 70.0 | 18.7 | 11.0 | 57.7 | 31.3 |
| Newfoundland | .. | .. | .. | 16.3 | 61.3 | 22.5 |
| Prince Edward Island | 18.7 | 69.6 | 11.7 | 16.9 | 60.6 | 22.5 |
| Nova Scotia | 15.8 | 70.4 | 13.9 | 13.8 | 60.0 | 26.2 |
| New Brunswick | 15.4 | 71.4 | 13.3 | 14.9 | 64.6 | 20.5 |
| Quebec | 7.8 | 74.3 | 17.7 | 9.1 | 62.6 | 28.3 |
| Ontario | 9.9 | 69.9 | 20.2 | 9.0 | 55.1 | 35.7 |
| Manitoba | 18.0 | 65.1 | 16.9 | 17.9 | 55.4 | 26.6 |
| Saskatchewan | 21.2 | 66.7 | 12.1 | 23.1 | 58.4 | 18.4 |
| Alberta | 14.9 | 67.4 | 17.7 | 13.9 | 57.6 | 28.5 |
| British Columbia | 10.6 | 66.5 | 22.9 | 9.5 | 55.2 | 35.3 |
| Yukon | 21.0 | 52.7 | 26.3 | 13.5 | 56.0 | 30.5 |
| Northwest Territories | 44.1 | 46.8 | 9.1 | 37.2 | 43.8 | 19.0 |
| .. | Mother's age was not available for births in Newfoundland prior to 1991. |
| 1 | Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding and unknown mother's age. |
| 2 | Excludes births to non-residents of Canada and stillbirths. |
All live births, by mother's age group
| 1987 | 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother's age group(1) | ||||||
| Under 20 | 20 to 29 | 30 plus | Under 20 | 20 to 29 | 30 plus | |
| % | ||||||
| Canada(2) | 5.9 | 63.4 | 30.7 | 5.7 | 49.8 | 44.4 |
| Newfoundland | .. | .. | .. | 9.2 | 56.5 | 34.3 |
| Prince Edward Island | 8.5 | 64.5 | 26.9 | 9.0 | 54.7 | 36.3 |
| Nova Scotia | 7.8 | 65.4 | 26.8 | 7.5 | 53.9 | 38.6 |
| New Brunswick | 7.8 | 66.7 | 25.5 | 8.3 | 59.1 | 32.6 |
| Quebec | 4.3 | 66.9 | 28.6 | 4.7 | 53.3 | 41.9 |
| Ontario | 5.0 | 61.5 | 33.5 | 4.6 | 45.4 | 49.9 |
| Manitoba | 9.3 | 62.4 | 28.3 | 9.7 | 52.7 | 37.6 |
| Saskatchewan | 10.2 | 65.8 | 24.1 | 11.4 | 56.2 | 32.4 |
| Alberta | 7.4 | 63.2 | 29.4 | 7.0 | 52.2 | 40.8 |
| British Columbia | 5.3 | 60.7 | 34.0 | 5.0 | 48.3 | 46.7 |
| Yukon | 10.3 | 54.6 | 35.1 | 6.8 | 51.1 | 42.2 |
| Northwest Territories | 20.7 | 58.7 | 20.6 | 17.1 | 55.9 | 27.0 |
| .. | Mother's age was not available for births in Newfoundland prior to 1991. |
| 1 | Percentages may not add to 100 because of rounding and unknown mother's age. |
| 2 | Excludes births to non-residents of Canada and stillbirths. |