Canada’s fertility rate has fallen to just 1.25 children per woman, one of the lowest in the developed world. But what’s actually driving the decline? Are fewer Canadians having children, or are the ones having kids simply choosing to have fewer of them?

In this episode of DemograFix, ⁠Mike Moffatt and ⁠Cara Stern break down the data behind Canada’s collapsing birth rate. They explore why more women are remaining childless, why one-child families have become the norm, and how housing costs, delayed parenthood, childcare, culture, and changing lifestyles are reshaping family formation across the country.

Topics discussed:

• Why Vancouver and Victoria have some of the world’s lowest fertility rates
• The surprising link between housing affordability and birth rates
• Why millennials and Gen Z still say they want kids
• How family sizes changed from the 1980s to today
• Whether education actually reduces fertility
• Why cities are losing young families
• The growing gap between the number of children Canadians want and the number they actually have

If Canada wants higher birth rates, what would it actually take to make raising children affordable again?

#Canada #HousingCrisis #FertilityRate #BirthRate #Millennials #GenZ #Economy #Housing #Population #Parenting #Childcare #CanadianPolitics #Demographics #TheMissingMiddle

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction: Canada’s Ultra-Low Fertility Rate

01:08 What Fertility Rates Measure — And Why Canada Is Different

01:59 Housing Costs, Cities, and Why Young Families Are Leaving

03:49 Are Fewer Women Having Children?

04:32 Delayed Parenthood and The Rise In Childlessness

06:01 Marriage, Religion, Immigration, and Fertility Trends

08:03 Does Higher Education Actually Reduce Birth Rates?

10:24 From Three-Child Families To One-Child Households

12:26 Housing Costs, Bedrooms, and Raising Kids In Canada

14:22 Canadians Still Want More Children

17:28 From Overpopulation Fears To Population Collapse

19:44 The Growing Gap Between Family Goals and Reality

20:05 What Governments Could Do To Make Raising Kids Easier

Research/links:

Proportion of women aged 20 to 49 without children, by age group and selected sociodemographic characteristics, 2024

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260126/t001a-eng.htm

‘One and Done’ is the new norm: inside Canada’s growing one-child family trend

https://www.babycenter.ca/a25053886/one-and-done-is-the-new-norm-inside-Canadas-growing-one-child-family-trend 

Living arrangements of children in Canada: A century of change

https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/statcan/75-006-x/75-006-2014001-4-eng.pdf

Fertility in Canada, 1921 to 2022

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/91f0015m/91f0015m2024001-eng.htm 

Credits:

Mike Moffatt https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt

https://bsky.app/profile/mikepmoffatt.bsky.social

Cara Stern https://x.com/carastern

https://bsky.app/profile/carastern.bsky.social

Meredith Martin  https://twitter.com/meredithmartin

https://bsky.app/profile/meredithmartin.bsky.social

Sean Foreman @seanegertonforeman

https://bsky.app/profile/seanforeman.bsky.social

University of Ottawa Co-op Student,  Kelly Hoban

Brought to you by the Missing Middle Initiative https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/