Statistics Canada confirmed last week that 351,679 babies were born in 2022 — the lowest number of live births since 345,044 births were recorded in 2005.
The disparity is all the more notable given that Canada had just 32 million people in 2005, as compared to the 40 million it counted by the end of 2022. In 2005, it was already at historic lows for Canada to have a fertility rate of 1.57 births per woman. But given the 2022 figures, that fertility rate has now sunk to 1.33.
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Of Canadians in their 20s, Statistics Canada found that 38 per cent of them “did not believe they could afford to have a child in the next three years” — with about that same number (32 per cent) saying they doubted they’d be able to find “suitable housing” in which to care for a baby.
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A January survey by the Angus Reid Group asked women to list the ideal size of their family against its actual size, and concluded that the average Canadian woman reached the end of their childbearing years with 0.5 fewer children than they would have wanted
“In Canada, unlike many other countries, fertility rates and desires rise with income: richer Canadians have more children,” it read.
Good! Maybe we can get back to sane population levels and half of these problems with the housing market and global warming will just resolve themselves. The earth’s population has more than doubled since I was born, and let me tell ya, it’s noticeable. It’s noticeable everywhere I look.
LoL no. Let’s import people to continue Canada’s growth and keep providing cheap labor to Canada’s corporations.
Our form of capitalism requires constant growth. One way to grow profits is to sell to more people.
If we stop immigration our economy collapses. If we keep it up, lots of other things collapse.
That’s the thing. We NEED the opposite of growth. We need a decrease, a decline. Less production, less people.
Otherwise we all know what’s the alternative. Global irreversible climate disaster and massive death.
Which is exactly what will continue to happen.
All you’re advocating for is a world in which the rich get to have kids and the rest of us get to work until we die, and have no families or lives.
No, that’s not at all what I said. You just formulated your own scenario and ran with it.
Could you clarify what you meant? You think it’s a good thing that people cannot afford to have kids?
Nope, but I think it’s good that people are deciding not to have kids, especially if they can’t afford them. I think the best scenario is if people can afford kids and still decide not to have them, or only have one of them.