What’s Stopping Canadians from Having More Kids?

Canada has long been recognized as one of the countries with the lowest birth rates in the world. While this reality may not have been extensively documented or acknowledged during the early 1900s, it was well understood by those in power. A notable example of Canada’s struggle with this issue is the controversial “Sixties Scoop,” during the 1960s, when Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families in an apparent effort to boost the number of children in the country.  

Recent surveys indicate that many Canadians would like to have larger families and, if circumstances allowed, could achieve one of the highest fertility rates in the Western world. So, why aren’t they?

One of the most commonly discussed reasons for this trend is personal finances. Experts have linked the rising cost of living to reproductive decision-making, suggesting that the pursuit of financial independence often leads to delayed parenthood. However, this delay ultimately shortens the reproductive window for many individuals.

A 2023 Statistics Canada survey found that 38 percent of Canadians aged 20 to 29 said they could not afford to have a child in the next 3 years, citing financial reasons.

Yet, a new report titled “Home Alone,” published by Cardus, an Ontario-based non-partisan Christian think tank, presents a different perspective. It suggests that as Canadians become wealthier, their desire to have children actually declines.

The survey findings illustrate this point: women living in households earning between $50,000 and $100,000 expressed an “ideal” number of children of 2.32. In contrast, for women in households earning over $150,000, the number dropped to 2.02.

When asked about the barriers to having their desired number of children, many women cited “life-course factors,” such as personal growth or the absence of a partner, rather than financial concerns. Only 56 percent of women cited “financial concerns” (including home affordability) as an obstacle, compared with 71 percent who cited “life-course factors.“

Though marriage and family formation rates have declined in Canada, this trend does not indicate a significant divergence in family desires between men and women, as both genders generally share similar fertility aspirations.

The Gap Between Wish and Reality:

The report relies on a survey of 3,000 Canadian adults conducted by the Angus Reid Group last July. It was discovered that Canadians aged 18 to 44 had different “ideal” family sizes: women wanted an average of 1.97 children, while men desired an average of 2.13 children.

These averages are considerably higher than Canada’s current fertility rate of 1.25 children per woman. Although family size does not directly influence the national fertility rate, the results indicate that Canadians would prefer a situation in which every woman has two children, whereas the actual birth rate is only 60 percent of that ideal.

With approximately 7 million Canadian women aged 18 to 44, there exists a potential gap of millions of children between the ideal of two children per woman and the current average of 1.25.

“Across most ethnic or linguistic groups, Canadians generally desire to have around two children,” the report states.

As of 2024, Statistics Canada confirmed that Canadian fertility rates had reached a record low of 1.25 children per woman, placing Canada alongside Italy (1.18), South Korea (0.75), and Japan (1.15) as an “ultra-low fertility” country.

If Canadians were to achieve their ideal fertility rate of two children per woman, Canada would stand out among wealthy nations for its high birth rates. According to the latest World Bank data, a fertility rate of 2 would place Canada well ahead of the European Union (1.3), the U.K. (1.6), and even the United States (1.6).

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