What to know
- Canada’s fertility rate remained at a record-low 1.26 children per woman in 2025, according to Statistics Canada.
- The average age of mothers reached a record 31.9 years, up from 26.7 in 1976.
- Most provinces and territories also recorded all-time low fertility rates in 2025.
- A McMaster University expert points to the cost of raising children, economic uncertainty, environmental concerns and personal choice as factors behind the decline.
- Low fertility can contribute to an aging population and a smaller working-age population, increasing pressure on services such as health care and social programs.
- Toronto residents told Now Toronto that the cost of living, housing and career goals are influencing when or whether they plan to have children, with some saying they want to reach greater financial stability first.
Canada’s fertility rate remained at an all-time low, as previously seen in 2024, according to Statistics Canada.
The country’s total fertility rate stayed at 1.26 children per woman in 2025, which is practically unchanged from the rate recorded the year before.
Canadian women also appear to be having children later in life, as the report suggests the average age of mothers at childbirth has reached a new high of 31.9 years, an increase from 26.7 years in 1976.
According to a report published by the agency earlier this week, most Canadian provinces and territories recorded an all-time low fertility rate, including Nunavut at 2.4 children per woman, Saskatchewan at 1.58, Newfoundland and Labrador at 1.08, Nova Scotia at 1.07 and Yukon at 1.02. This was also the first time Yukon has registered the lowest rate among all provinces, while British Columbia, which registered 1.04 children per woman this year, held the position from 2013 to 2024.
Statistics Canada suggests that fertility rates began declining in 2009 and saw a sharper drop of about four per cent from 2017 to 2023. It then dropped by another 0.8 per cent in 2024 and remained stable through 2025.
Canada also doesn’t seem to be the only country facing declining fertility rates. According to the report, Canada has the seventh lowest rate among 20 selected high-income countries in 2025. The U.S. has the highest rate at 1.57 children per woman, followed by Iceland and France with 1.56. Other countries had a much lower rate, including South Korea with the lowest at 0.8 children per woman.
Why could this be happening?
Bruce Newbold, a professor at the McMaster University’s School of Earth, Environment & Society explains that a series of factors could be driving fertility rates down, from economic conditions to simple individual choice.
Firstly, the expert said Canadians might be considering the costs of having and raising children, which could amount to several thousands of dollars from housing to food to education. In doing that, many are finding they don’t have the resources to be able to comfortably raise children, opting to avoid or defer it.
Another reason might have to do with the overall state of the economy. With many Canadians worrying about raising costs, instability from changing trade relationships and tariffs, or job security, many might also choose not to have children.
“We tend to think that when the economy is good, people will be more likely to have children, and when the economy is bad, they’re less likely. And there’s a lot of threats to our economy. We look at the U.S. tariffs and the trade war, and before that, recessions. So, that has people delaying or not having children,” he said.
Newbold also said an increasing number of people are also worried about the state of the environment, with scientists pointing to increasing global temperatures and extreme weather in the future.
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Other Canadians might even simply be choosing to not have children as a personal preference.
Why are fertility rates important?
According to Newbold, fertility rates are an important indicator of how willing or able a population is to have children.
Newbold explains that once fertility rates reach a level below 2.l children per woman, the new generation is no longer able to replace the previous generation, leading to an aging population or shrinking workforce.
With more seniors and less working age residents, Canada could face a shortage of skills and services, and difficulties funding resources, services like healthcare, and social programs that support older residents.
“We don’t have a shrinking population in Canada because of immigration. But if you take away immigration, Canada’s population size would decline, and that low fertility rate also means that the average age of the Canadian population gets older,” he explained.
Besides investing in immigration, Newbold said governments across the world have also tried to put incentives in place to encourage people to have children. However, these incentives usually make little difference when it comes to getting people to have a higher number of children.
“[Governments] have given tax incentives or cash incentives, cheap or free daycare, baby bonuses for having more than one child, and they don’t work. If anything, maybe it changes when a couple or an individual would have a child, but it doesn’t change the number of children,” he said.
Torontonians weigh in
Toronto resident Janine W. tells Now Toronto she was not surprised to see that fertility rates are declining in Canada. With the cost of living going up, and wages failing to rise at the same rate, the resident said it’s understandable that many people would want to avoid the financial responsibility that comes with having a child.
Janine also shared although she hoped to have children, she would prioritize figuring out her finances before taking that step.
“Having a kid is just another expense and another responsibility when our workloads get crazier and crazier. So, it’s just not realistic in this day and age sometimes,” she said.
“In an ideal world, I would definitely love to have a family, but it all depends on circumstances. And if everything aligns, because I wouldn’t want to put myself in a financial situation that I wouldn’t be able to get myself out of, let alone another person that’s dependent on me.”
Other residents agreed that the cost of living and raising kids could be a deciding factor for themselves and other Canadians when it comes to having a child.
In addition, some Torontonians shared they’d like to reach certain goals before having children, such as pursuing higher education or homeownership.
“I don’t think I’d want to have a kid in my 20s… maybe when I’m in my 30s, I think it would be nice to start a family. I just want to make sure I can go to school, graduate, and then settle into a good career before starting a family,” Jamshaid S. said.
“I have thought twice about having kids in the future because I can’t really afford it, and I think a lot of people my age in their mid 20s are feeling the same way… I would like to have a house instead [or] maybe an apartment with more than one bedroom too. The price is like almost $2,000 a month plus. And I can’t really afford that right now,” Rachel C. added.
A Toronto-based couple, Shiv K. and Gaya K., tells Now Toronto that although they intend to adopt children in the future, for now, they’ve decided to focus their parental attention on their dog.
“We save a lot of money on school. But otherwise, I think I’m definitely getting all of what [emotional fulfillment] I would expect from a baby through a dog, and this could be a very controversial opinion,” Gaya said.
