Canada's already declining birth rate to be still lowered due to COVID-19 impact

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Ottawa, Aug 3 (Canadian-Media): Canada's already declining birth rate would still get lower due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, media reports said.

Image: Declining Birth Rate. Image credit: Twitter handle

The COVID-19 pandemic impacts the decisions people make about having a child or adding to their family at the time of this crisis, said Nora Spinks, CEO of the Vanier Institute for the Family, a charitable research and education institute based in Ottawa.

"When it comes to the impact of COVID-19 on fertility intentions, what we're seeing all over the world is that people are choosing, in large part, to delay, defer or just not have a child or additional children at this time," she said, CBC News reported.

A Washington, D.C.-based think-tank Brookings Institution had forecast in June that there could be 500,000 fewer babies born in the U.S. as a result of the pandemic.

Canada, having a relatively better health-care system and having more supports than the U.S., such as parental leave, economists are not predicting an equivalent drop in Canada's birth rate. But a decline of any kind will have lasting impacts on Canada's economy.

"What it means for families and for policy-makers and for communities is that if we see a drop in pregnancy in 2020, we'll see a drop in demand for child care in 2023 to 2024, a drop in kindergarten in 2025 and a drop in adolescents available for summer jobs and part-time work by 2030," said Spinks, CBC News reported.