Overall
Age Specific
Total Fertility Rate
Fertility Rate
The fertility rate (FR) is the number of live births per 1,000 women of reproductive age (ages 15 to 49 years) per year. This is a more refined way to measure fertility than crude birth rate because the FR accounts for the percentage of women aged 15 to 49 years in a population. Despite this, differences in fertility rates may be due to differences in the percentage of women in the most fertile age groups (25-34 years) in different populations. The page on pregnancy rates includes live births, sill births and therapeutic abortions. The data on this page are from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and represent hospital births only.
In 2016, the fertility rate was 42.8 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years in Simcoe Muskoka and 41.0 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-49 years in Ontario.
Age Specific Fertility Rate
The age-specific fertility rate (ASFR) is the number of live births per 1,000 women in specified (e.g. five year) age groups per year.
For multiple decades in Simcoe Muskoka and Ontario, there has been an overall trend toward older women having babies. Women with increased maternal age are more likely to develop health problems that could affect their pregnancy. They are also more likely to experience complications during pregnancy including high blood pressure, diabetes, preterm birth, fetal growth restriction and low lying placenta.On the other hand, women who delay childbearing often have a higher level of education and socioeconomic status, which decreases some of the health problems associated with their pregnancy. So women who have their first baby at an older age and who have no chronic conditions, generally have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.
The fertility rates for 30-34 year olds, 35-39 year olds and 40-44 year olds in Simcoe Muskoka have increased since 2006. At the same time, there has been a decreasing trend in the fertility rates for 15-19 year olds, 20-24 year olds and 25-29 year olds. These trends are also seen in Ontario’s age-specific fertility rates. In 2016 in Simcoe Muskoka, women in the 25-29 year old age group and 30-34 year old age group had the highest fertility rates in 2016 at 94.1 and 111 live births per 1,000 women respectively.
Total Fertility Rate
The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is the average number of children that would be born per woman if all women lived to the end of their childbearing years and bore children according to the age-specific fertility rates for that area and time period. Without immigration, population size declines when the TFR is less than 2.1 children born per woman.
Decreased fertility rates have been associated with increased urbanization, higher levels of education among women, higher participation rates in the labour force for women, prevention of unwanted pregnancies, greater access to abortion, unstable employment, and economic instability.
In 2016, the TFR in Simcoe Muskoka was 1.53 children born per woman and the Ontario rate was 1.40 children born per woman.