Fertility Projections for Canada, Provinces and Territories, 1993-2016 - ARCHIVED

This paper describes the methodology for fertility projections used in the 1993-based population projections by age and sex for Canada, provinces and territories, 1993-2016. A new version of the parametric model known as the Pearsonian Type III curve was applied for projecting fertility age pattern. The Pearsonian Type III model is considered as an improvement over the Type I used in the past projections. This is because the Type III curve better portrays both the distribution of the age-specific fertility rates and the estimates of births. Since the 1993-based population projections are the first official projections to incorporate the net census undercoverage in the population base, it has been necessary to recalculate fertility rates based on the adjusted population estimates. This recalculation resulted in lowering the historical series of age-specific and total fertility rates, 1971-1993. The three sets of fertility assumptions and projections were developed with these adjusted annual fertility rates.

It is hoped that this paper will provide valuable information about the technical and analytical aspects of the current fertility projection model. Discussions on the current and future levels and age pattern of fertility in Canada, provinces and territories are also presented in the paper.