Oh, mama!
Statistics Canada says last year more than two-in-five newborns, or 42.3%, in Canada had a foreign-born mother – as in a mother who was born outside Canada.
That proportion has nearly doubled in just over a quarter of a century from when it was 22.5% in 1997.
The adjusted proportion of foreign-born women among women of childbearing age was estimated at 32.3% in the 2021 Census, slightly lower than the percentage of births to foreign-born mothers, which was 33% the same year.
Stats Can says this trend has been ongoing in the last five censuses, suggesting that foreign-born women are more likely to give birth in Canada than Canadian-born women of the same age.
The federal agency summarizes that without the contribution of foreign-born mothers, the total number of births in Canada would have declined faster since 2010.
It also says that without the contribution of foreign-born individuals to births and deaths, natural increase in Canada would have been negative since 2022.
The figures show that in 2024, nearly three-in-five babies, or 57.0%, born to mothers over the age of 40 had a foreign-born mother, while among babies born to mothers aged 19 and under, just over 1 in 10 babies or 12.8% had a foreign-born mother.
ONTARIO, BC HAD MOST FOREIGN BORN MOTHERS
Last year, Ontario and British Columbia had the highest proportion of births to foreign-born mothers at 48.7% each, while the lowest proportion was observed in the Atlantic provinces 23.6%.
From 1997 to 2024, the largest increases in the number of births to foreign-born mothers were recorded in Saskatchewan (+437%), the Atlantic provinces (+298%), Alberta (+264%) and Manitoba (+206%).
Among all births in Canada, the proportion of mothers born in India increased nearly five times, rising from 2.1% in 1997 to 10.3% in 2024.
As a result, India was the most prevalent country of origin among foreign-born mothers last year
After India, the second-most common country of origin among foreign-born mothers in 2024 was the Philippines, representing 3.1% of all births, followed by China (2% of all births).
Stats Can says Canada has been experiencing a decline in fertility since 2009 which has accelerated since 2017 while over the same period while at the same time the country has experienced unprecedented population growth due to strong international migration.
To better understand these demographic events, this study measures the contribution of foreign-born women to births in Canada by analyzing vital statistics birth data from 1997 to 2024.
Source: Toronto Sun
