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Fertility and marriage patterns in Canada, 1851-1971

University of British Columbia

This research is concerned with reconstructing and analyzing the history of fertility transition in Canada from 1851 to 1971. The Canadian fertility transition, viewed from a four stage framework, is examined within the context of demographic transition theory, with the aims of delineating both the common and the unique features of the Canadian experience and of ascertaining the theoretical implications of the findings concerning Canadian transition. Canadian census and vital statistics data are used solely. Corrections to the early birth data are made, utilizing the survival rate method with adjustments, based on stable population models, made for the under-enumeration of population under age 5. Also, census data on population distribution by age and marital status by age are adjusted, by interpolation, in instances when such data are presented in too highly aggregated form to allow for desired analyses. The overall trend of fertility change in Canada displays a pattern in which early, i.e., commencing at the middle of the nineteenth Century, declines are registered, followed by a period of plateau, and then a period of fluctuation until the decade of the 1960s when rapid decline occurs. By analyzing the separate components operating to affect this overall trend, it is found that marital fertility plays the major role, one of substantial and consistent decline. The deviations from decline in overall fertility that occur result from the operation of a second component, female nuptiality. Together, the variables of marital fertility and female nuptiality function to determine the particular nature of the fertility transition in Canada, the unique features of which are early, large-scale decline followed by a period of constancy. These two variables are examined separately, and in detail, in an effort to ascertain possible causal influences operating to determine level and trend. Marital fertility is' found to be affected by different variables over time. Marital fertility levels, at early periods, are closely related with cultural variables, i.e., ethnicity and religion. Over time, these variables lose their importance, replaced by economic-related variables. The heightened overall fertility in the post - World War II period is not accompanied by a general or significant increase in completed family size; rather, timing differences are largely responsible. Certain sub-populations of women in Canada, however, are characterized by noticeable increases in completed family size. The women so characterized are women who, prior to the "baby boom," display relatively low levels of marital fertility, i.e., women of British ethnic origin, of Protestant religion, and of high levels of educational attainment. The examination of female nuptiality in Canada reveals a transition from the low levels that historically characterized western European populations to relatively high levels. The course of nuptiality change in Canada is found to be affected by migration patterns. Whereas in the past, nuptiality in strongly affected by the variable of ethnicity, major convergence has occurred throughout the course of this century. A number of theoretical implications result from this research, and can be divided into two types. There are, first, implications relating to the Canadian transition itself. Much of the uniqueness of the Canadian experience surrounds the issues of culture and migration patterns. As such, there was not "one" fertility transition in Canada, but several, stemming from differential combinations of marital fertility and nuptiality behaviour that various groups brought with them to Canada. Second, the findings here relate to a number of debates existing within demographic transition theory.

Text

2010-03-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21528

Sociology

University of British Columbia

Graduate