OTTAWA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The total fertility rate (TFR) in Canada reached 1.33 children per woman in 2022, the lowest recorded over more than a century of data, Statistic Canada said on Wednesday.

       The TFR is an estimate of the average number of live births a woman can be expected to have in her lifetime. Although the downward trend began in 2009, it accelerated in 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decrease became even more pronounced in 2022, after the TFR posted a slight increase in 2021, according to the national statistical agency.

       The decline in the TFR from 2021 to 2022 was the largest since 1971-1972 which was at the height of the baby bust that followed the 1946-1965 baby boom, and three years after the contraceptive pill and therapeutic abortion were decriminalized in 1969, the agency said.

       The sharp drop in fertility from 2021 to 2022 was observed in most provinces and territories, the agency added.

       The seesaw pattern of Canada's TFR from 2020 to 2022 is comparable to what many other countries experienced over the same period, suggesting that the pandemic may have temporarily disrupted fertility behaviours, the agency said.

       In 2022, Canada's TFR ranked in the middle of the pack of 10 selected high-income countries with values ranging from 0.78 children per woman in South Korea to 1.80 children per woman in France.

       The 7.4 percent decline in fertility observed in Canada from 2021 to 2022 ranked third among these same countries, after the Netherlands and Germany, Statistic Canada said.

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