The average age of first-time mothers has risen just shy of six years since 1965, a new report has found.
Looking at provincial data, the authors noted that the age of mothers when they have their first child has been consistently low in Saskatchewan and consistently high in British Columbia. In 2019, women in Saskatchewan were approximately 27 years old when they had their first child. That number was 30 years in B.C.
“The average age of mothers at first birth has increased in all provinces” since 2012, the report found. Alberta had the largest increase at 1.1 years while Quebec’s increase of 0.4 years was the smallest.
“The fact they continue unchanged through economic booms and busts and across all provinces suggests that these trends have more to do with changing societal norms than with financial considerations, such as the cost of living and the cost of childcare,” the authors wrote.
The average age of mothers at first birth will plateau eventually, the report noted, but said the age at which that might happen could not be predicted for certain.
“International data show that amongst OECD countries, the average age of Canadian mothers at first birth in 2016 was near the OECD average —29.2 years— but noticeably lower than in countries like Spain” whose average age sat at 30.8 and and Italy with an average age of 31.
The report’s authors concluded that falling fertility rates would have implications for public policy, including immigration quotas, school construction, and financing of pensions.
The decline in total fertility rate from 2021 to 2022 was 7.4 percent, and was the largest since 1971-1972 when there was a 7.6 percent drop in fertility rate, the government agency said.
“Without temporary immigration, that is, relying solely on permanent immigration and natural increase (births minus deaths), Canada’s population growth would have been almost three times less,” Statistics Canada said.
