Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:04:01.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Canadian Fertility Trends in Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Lionel Needleman
Lionel Needleman
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Waterloo, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This paper examines the broad movements of Canadian period and cohort fertility over the last hundred years or so, and compares them with corresponding trends in the United States and other industrialized countries. The main movement in Canada was a decline in fertility extending from the nineteenth century to the present time, interrupted in the 1940s and 1950s by a ‘baby boom’. The long decline in cohort fertility is largely explained by the decrease in the proportions of families of six or more children. This decrease continued during the baby boom, but in these years was more than offset, though not for Catholics, by the effects of increases in the proportions of families with three, four, and five children.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 43 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andorra, R. (1978) Determinants of Fertility in Advanced Societies, Methuen, London.Google Scholar
Balakrishnan, T.R., Ebanks, G.E. & Grindstaff, C.F. (1979) Patterns of Fertility in Canada, 1971. Census Analytical Study, Catalogue 99–759E, Statistics Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Bouvier, L.F. & Rao, S.L.N. (1975) Socioreligious Factors in Fertility Decline. Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Burch, T.K. (1966) The fertility of North American Catholics: a comparative overview. Demography, 3, 174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calot, G. & Blayo, C. (1982) Recent course of fertility in Western Europe. Popul. Stud. 36, 349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collinshaw, N. (1976) Fertility in Canada. 1971 Census of Canada Profile Study, Catalogue 99–706, Statistics Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Day, L.H. (1968) Natality and ethnocentrism: some relationships suggested by an analysis of Catholic–Protestant differentials. Popul. Stud. 22, 27.Google ScholarPubMed
DOMINION BUREAU OF STATISTICS (1966) 1961 Census of Canada, Population Sample, Number of Children Born Per 1,000 Women Ever Married. Catalogue 98–508, Ottawa.Google Scholar
DOMINION BUREAU OF STATISTICS (1968) 1961 Census of Canada, General Review, Fertility Trends in Canada. Catalogue 99–527, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Henripin, J. (1972) Trends and Factors of Fertility in Canada. 1961 Census Monograph, Catalogue 99–541, Statistics Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Long, L.H. (1970) Fertility patterns among religious groups in Canada. Demography, 7, 135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryder, N.B. (1978) On the time series of American fertility. Popul. Dev. Rev. 4, 322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryder, N.B. (1980) Components of temporal variation in American fertility. In: Demographic Patterns in Developed Societies, p. 15. Edited by Hiorns, R.W.. Taylor and Francis, London.Google Scholar
Ryder, N.B. (1982) Fertility trends. In: International Encyclopaedia of Populations, Vol. 1, p. 286. Edited by Ross, J.A.. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
STATISTICS CANADA (1983) 1981 Census of Canada, Population, Nuptiality and Fertility. Catalogue 92–906, Ottawa.Google Scholar
STATISTICS CANADA (1984) Vital Statistics, Vol. 1, Births and Deaths, 1982. Catalogue 84–204, Ottawa.Google Scholar
van de Walle, E. & Knodel, J.E. (1980) Europe's fertility transition: new evidence and lessons for today's developing world. Popul. Bull. 34, 3.Google ScholarPubMed