Fertility and intentions: Socioeconomic factors

Released: 2026-01-26

In Canada, women's family trajectories have seen major changes in recent decades. Increased educational levels, greater participation in the labour market, changing social norms and the widespread use of contraception have contributed to diversifying life paths, notably in terms of childbearing.

This reality is directly related to the sharp decline in fertility observed in Canada. In 2024, Canada became part of the group of countries with "ultra-low fertility," with a total fertility rate of 1.25 children per woman. This strong decline in fertility is due not only to a decreased birth rate, but also to an increase in the number of women who do not have children either by choice, by circumstance or because they are delaying motherhood. In fact, the average age of mothers at the birth of their first child has been increasing in Canada for decades. In 2024, it reached an all-time high of 31.8 years. Although the decline in fertility is partly due to women delaying having children, the proportion of women aged 50 years and older with no children has also been increasing over a period of more than 30 years, from 14.1% in 1990 to 17.4% in 2022.

In a context where having children is being increasingly delayed, understanding the fertility intentions of women without children who are still of reproductive age is essential because having children as planned can affect the well-being and life satisfaction of individuals and families. To address these issues, the 2024 Survey on Family Transitions (SFT) was designed to explore the experiences of families in Canada over time by examining how individuals and families change throughout various life stages. The results can be used to develop programs and policies to improve the well-being of children and families.

Using these data, this release first examines the proportion of Canadian women of childbearing age (i.e., women aged 20 to 49 years without any biological or adopted children) and then considers their fertility intentions. The release highlights sociodemographic characteristics associated with not having children and with fertility intentions, such as age group, education level, employment status, marital status, immigrant status and population group. It aims to increase understanding of current trends and shed light on issues related to the diversity of women's parental trajectories in a low-fertility context.

Close to one in four Canadian women in their 40s has no children

In 2024, 51.5% of Canadian women aged 20 to 49 years were not yet mothers. The proportion of women without children varied by age. Nearly 9 in 10 women (88.5%) in their 20s did not yet have children, while this was the case for just over 4 in 10 women (43.2%) in their 30s and close to 1 in 4 women (23.6%) in their 40s (Table 1).

Education and work: What impacts motherhood?

In general, there is a higher proportion of women without any children among university graduates or employed women. For example, in terms of the highest level of education, among women aged 30 to 39 years in 2024, close to half (48.6%) of university graduates (see Note to readers) had no children, compared with 37.0% of those without a university degree. This result could be explained by family events being delayed to later ages because of the priority given to education and a career in the transition to adulthood.

In terms of employment status, unemployed women (see Note to readers) in 2024 were generally more likely to have children than employed women. The difference is more pronounced for women under the age of 40 years. For example, among women in their 30s, 46.5% of employed women had no children in 2024, compared with 29.5% of unemployed women (Table 1). Constraints related to work-life balance, as well as the cost and availability of child care, could account for the temporary absence of many mothers from the labour market, revealing a tension between motherhood and career. This tension could also help explain delays in employed women having children, particularly in the context of women spending, on average, more time per day than men on housework and parenting.

Motherhood is more common among married women

Unlike employment status and the level of education, being in a relationship has a positive correlation to the proportion of mothers. Being in a couple is more conducive to parenting, as having children is often seen as part of the conjugal journey. To support this, data show that, in 2024, regardless of age, at least 80% of women aged 20 to 49 years who had never been part of a couple had no children. Among those who were in a couple, married women (22.5%) were less likely than women in a common-law relationship (55.4%) or women in a relationship living apart together (83.9%) to not have children (Table 1). The same pattern can be observed across different age groups; the less formal or institutionalized the relationship, the greater the proportion without children. This outcome may also be explained by the fact that decisions on the course of family life are often made simultaneously, whether by formalizing a relationship through cohabitation or marriage, or by deciding to have a child.

Women who practise a religion are more likely to have children

Religion, through the values it promotes, also plays a key role in people's decisions to become parents. Indeed, the more a woman participates in religious activities, the less likely she is to not have children. However, this difference between practising women (see Note to readers) and non-practising women is seen only among women aged 30 years and older. For example, in 2024, nearly half (48.7%) of non-practising women in their 30s had no children, compared with 35.9% of their practising counterparts (Table 1).

Landed immigrant women are more likely to have children than women born in Canada

In 2024, more than half (52.8%) of Canadian-born women aged 20 to 49 years had no children, compared with 44.6% of landed immigrant women (Table 1). This result reflects the increasing contribution of foreign-born mothers to Canadian births.

Arab and Latin American women are more likely to be mothers

Chart 1 
Proportion of women without children by racialized group¹, 2024

Being part of certain racialized groups (see Note to readers) seems to be associated with women's childbearing trajectories in Canada, including with the decision to have children or the possibility of having children. In 2024, about 6 in 10 West Asian (64.2%) and Chinese (59.6%) women had no children. This was the case for just over half of South Asian (53.0%), Filipino (52.0%), Southeast Asian (51.3%) and Black (50.3%) women. The proportions of Latin American (41.6%) and Arab (40.1%) women without children were the lowest (Chart 1).

When comparing the various racialized population groups with non-racialized and non-Indigenous populations, only Chinese and Arab women stood out in 2024. Chinese women were less likely to have children, while Arab women were more likely.

Among women aged 20 to 29 years without children, two in three would like to have some

Studying fertility intentions provides a better understanding of the dynamics underlying reproductive behaviour, particularly among women without children. Some are considering motherhood in the not-too-distant future, while others are not interested in having children neither now nor ever. In this release, women who answered "definitely yes" or "probably yes" to questions about their intentions to have children, whether in the three years following the survey or later, are considered as wanting to have children.

Chart 2 
Fertility intentions of women without children, by age group, 2024

The data show that, in 2024, slightly over half (51.7%) (Chart 2) of women aged 20 to 49 years without children want to have some eventually, just under one-third (31.1%) "definitely" or "probably" do not want to have children and 17.2% are unsure. The proportion of women without children who would like to have some decreases with age. This is the case for 2 in 3 women among women without children aged 20 to 29 years (66.0%), 4 in 10 women of those aged 30 to 39 years (44.2%) and 1 in 10 women among those aged 40 to 49 years (13.1%). It is important to note that the proportion of women uncertain about wanting to have children varied little across age groups. Women without children who want to become mothers would like to have 2.2 children on average.

Although women with a university degree were less likely to be mothers in 2024, their fertility intentions were similar to those of women without a university degree, except for women in their 30s without children. Among women in their 30s without children, university-educated women were more likely to want to have children (48.3%), compared with those without a university degree (37.8%) (Table 2). Women in their 30s with a university education may have chosen to delay motherhood to focus on their education and career but may wish to have children once they have achieved their goals. By contrast, among women with lower levels of education, not having children may be associated with financial or personal challenges, which could hinder the desire to have children.

However, in 2024, women wanted to have the same number of children on average whether they were university graduates or not (1.9 children each).

There was no statistically significant difference in the proportion of women in 2024 wishing to have children based on employment status (Table 2).

For all age groups combined, in 2024, similar proportions of women without children who were married (50.7%), who were in a common-law relationship (50.1%) and who had never been in a couple (51.7%) wanted to have children in the future. Women without children who were in a couple living apart together (65.0%) were more likely to want children in the future. However, within age groups, another trend could be seen for women under the age of 40 years. Proportionally more married women without children wanted to have children, both those in their 20s (80.7%) and those in their 30s (54.9%).

In terms of religious activities, in 2024, practising women under the age of 40 years were more likely to want to have children, compared with non-practising women in the same age group. For example, 54.5% of practising women without children in their 30s wanted to have some, compared with 38.2% of those non-practising. The gap between practising and non-practising women under the age of 40 years was greater among landed immigrant women.

As previously mentioned, Canadian-born women aged 20 to 49 years were less likely than landed immigrants to have children; they were also less likely to want to have some. In 2024, 45.7% of Canadian-born women without children reported wanting some, compared with 57.2% of landed immigrant women. This difference is similar and significant for women in all age groups (Table 2). Regardless of age, racialized women without children (65.9%) were more likely to want to have children than non-racialized and non-Indigenous women (42.0%) (Table 2). In terms of the desired number of children, there was no difference between the two groups.

In 2024, nearly half of Canadian women aged 20 to 49 years had no children, although a similar proportion expressed a desire to have some. This gap between intentions and reality shows the influence of structural factors—such as marital status, level of education, employment status, religious activity or migration status—that contribute to declining fertility rates.

It is also noteworthy that nearly one-quarter of women approaching the end of their childbearing years (i.e., women in their 40s) had no children, and about 1 in 10 of them wanted to have some. However, such plans are less likely to materialize at this age, given biological constraints and the risks associated with late pregnancies.

These results show that fertility does not depend solely on individual preferences, it also reflects complex socioeconomic and cultural factors, particularly for women under the age of 40 years. For these women, their level of education and career paths can conflict with family trajectories and act as a barrier to having children, often forcing them to choose between having children and pursuing a career. These trends explain the growing proportion of women without children and the diversification of family models, such as the emergence of stepfamilies in which a woman takes on a parental role with her partner's children. They also show the importance of policies that encourage balancing career and parenthood, as fertility depends as much on personal choices as on social and economic conditions.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).