Canada’s fertility rate is at an all-time low. What should we do about it?
It’s been decades since Canada had its baby boom, and with our fertility rate now at a historic low, we seem to be in the middle of a baby bust. And it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon. So why aren’t Canadians procreating like they used to?
Don Kerr is a demographer who teaches at King’s University College at Western University. He worked at Statistics Canada for over a decade. “You know, many people think of this very low fertility, below replacement fertility, as meaning that we’re on the edge of population decline, sort of an implosion,” says Kerr, “that’s not likely to happen in Canada.”
So what does it really mean to our country that we aren’t having children like we used to? What’s the impact on the economy? Our society? And what will our future look like?