[BRIEF NOT] The Albertan baby boom
Jan. 30th, 2008 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldThe Calgary Sun is one of many Albertan news outlets carrying this news.
Going to Statistics Canada's not directly comparable statistics, I do find that the number of recorded births in Alberta has risen quite substantially over the past five years, from 39 450 births in 2002/2003 to 44 611 births in 2006/2007. For comparison, in the neighbouring province of British Columbia, home to nearly a million more people, over the same people the number of recorded births increased from 40 534 to 42 306. Clearly, Alberta's population is reproducing itself at a high rate.
Not to replacement, though. As this Statistics Canada chart shows, Alberta's TFR has declined only slightly, from 1.85 children born per woman if trends continued in 1981 to 1.75 in 2005, possibly followed by a slight rise in the couple of years since. Alberta's crude birth rate has dropped sharply: A quick look at the statistics reveals that the same number of births occurred in Alberta in 1983 as in 2006, but back in 1983 Alberta's population was nearly one-third smaller than today's 3.2 million. Alberta's young population and relatively high fertility rate might be enough to allow headcounts to grow more quickly than elsewhere in Canada, but it's premature to call what's going on a baby boom. At best, it's a deceleration of the aging process.
Oh baby, Alberta has another boom to deal with.
The province yesterday released the most popular names for newborns in 2007 as Alberta appears to be in the midst of a baby boom, smashing the previous record number of births set 24 years ago. Amorous Albertans produced 48,589 children -- 24,748 boys and 23,841 girls -- last year, a 20% increase from the number recorded four years ago and 3,000 more than the record figure hit in 1983.
Provincial spokesman Eoin Kenny said the numbers show the boom occurring in the rest of Alberta is being reflected in maternity wards.
"It certainly mirrors the prosperity of the province," he said.
"We're in the middle of a baby boom.
"The last time we saw this many babies was in 1983."
Going to Statistics Canada's not directly comparable statistics, I do find that the number of recorded births in Alberta has risen quite substantially over the past five years, from 39 450 births in 2002/2003 to 44 611 births in 2006/2007. For comparison, in the neighbouring province of British Columbia, home to nearly a million more people, over the same people the number of recorded births increased from 40 534 to 42 306. Clearly, Alberta's population is reproducing itself at a high rate.
Not to replacement, though. As this Statistics Canada chart shows, Alberta's TFR has declined only slightly, from 1.85 children born per woman if trends continued in 1981 to 1.75 in 2005, possibly followed by a slight rise in the couple of years since. Alberta's crude birth rate has dropped sharply: A quick look at the statistics reveals that the same number of births occurred in Alberta in 1983 as in 2006, but back in 1983 Alberta's population was nearly one-third smaller than today's 3.2 million. Alberta's young population and relatively high fertility rate might be enough to allow headcounts to grow more quickly than elsewhere in Canada, but it's premature to call what's going on a baby boom. At best, it's a deceleration of the aging process.
