Canada Births 2024: Over 40% Have Foreign-Born Mothers, StatsCan Reveals

More than two in five babies born in Canada last year had foreign-born mothers, new national figures show, underscoring how immigration is reshaping the country’s family life and health services. Statistics Canada reported that 42.3% of all live births in 2024 were to women who were born outside Canada, a share that has nearly doubled since 1997, when it was 22.5%. The shift touches hospitals, schools, and neighborhoods from Vancouver to Halifax, and it comes at a time when the country’s population growth is closely tied to newcomers.

Overall birth counts and trends

Canada recorded 365,737 live births in 2024, a 3.7% increase from 2023. While the overall birth count rose, the profile of parents continued to change.

• The share of babies born to foreign-born mothers has increased steadily for more than 25 years, reflecting the scale and pace of immigration and the settling of young families in major cities.
• The number of births to foreign-born mothers grew from about 50,000 in 1997 to just over 70,000 in 2024.

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, this trend aligns with Canada’s record inflows of permanent and temporary residents in recent years, which have shifted the age structure and expanded the pool of people in their prime childbearing years.

Regional differences

Regional patterns show marked variation:

• Ontario and British Columbia each saw 48.7% of births to foreign-born mothers in 2024 — just shy of half of all births in those provinces.
• The Atlantic provinces recorded the lowest share at 23.6%, reflecting smaller immigrant populations and different local economies.

These differences point to the continued pull of major urban centres—Toronto, Vancouver, and surrounding regions—where jobs, community networks, and newcomer services are concentrated.

Maternal age and health implications

Age is an important factor in the data:

• In 2024, 27.1% of all live births were to mothers aged 35 and older.
• Older mothers, whether Canadian-born or foreign-born, have higher rates of premature and low birthweight babies than younger mothers.

Those risks increase demand for prenatal monitoring, neonatal care, and follow-up support. When combined with the diversity of the newcomer population, these needs become more complex, prompting adjustments in staffing, outreach, and translation services.

Perinatal outcomes and the “healthy immigrant effect”

Public health research finds that foreign-born mothers, as a group, can experience different outcomes than Canadian-born mothers:

• Foreign-born mothers have a modestly higher risk of some adverse perinatal outcomes.
• They have a lower risk of large-for-gestational-age births.

These patterns may reflect multiple factors, including pre-pregnancy health, diet, stress, income, access to care, and the so-called healthy immigrant effect—the observation that many recent arrivals report good health on arrival. The mix of risks and protections does not fall evenly across communities, so data encourage tailored local responses.

The combination of older mothers and a high share of foreign-born mothers means hospitals must be ready for both higher-risk pregnancies and the practical needs of diverse families.

Health-system and hospital planning

The concentration of births among foreign-born mothers affects hospital and health-system planning:

• Larger urban hospitals prepare for more deliveries by patients whose first language is not English or French, and they adapt services to reflect cultural practices around pregnancy and birth.
• Smaller centres in the Atlantic provinces and the Prairies may focus on recruiting bilingual or multilingual staff and building community partnerships to support pregnant newcomers in rural settings.

Health agencies note that planning windows matter: a year like 2024, with more births and a higher share to foreign-born mothers, tests capacity and budgets.

Impacts beyond health care: schools and social services

The implications extend beyond the delivery room:

• Newborns today will enter kindergarten in five years, prompting school boards in high-immigrant regions to plan for growth, language supports, and parent outreach.
• Municipal agencies—public health nurses, family resource centres, and early childhood programs—anticipate demand for services that reflect cultural diversity.

These needs will remain strongest where newcomers settle in the largest numbers.

Policy, planning, and community responses

Economists view the headline share—more than two in five babies born to foreign-born mothers—as evidence of long-term population renewal through immigration. Canada’s birth rate has been low for years, so arrivals from abroad and the families they form are central to maintaining the workforce and tax base.

For health planners and policymakers, the combined age and nativity breakdown focuses attention on maternal and infant health outcomes. Practical responses include:

1. Interpreter and translation services in hospitals and clinics.
2. Culturally sensitive prenatal classes and outreach.
3. Early connection programs that link expectant parents with clinics, especially soon after arrival.
4. Nutrition counselling and growth monitoring tailored to different baseline risks.

Community groups emphasize early prenatal care—especially in a newcomer’s first year in Canada—to lower risks tied to preterm birth and low birthweight. In provinces with the highest shares of foreign-born mothers, these early steps can help reduce pressure on neonatal units.

Further analysis and next steps

Officials will continue to parse the figures, examining patterns by:

• Country of birth
• Length of time in Canada
• Place of residence

Those details will guide provincial funding for prenatal and postnatal programs and help hospitals plan budgets and staffing.

Statistics Canada’s release provides the national backdrop and detailed tables for researchers and policymakers. The agency’s data portal, available at Statistics Canada, carries the historical series that shows how the share of births to foreign-born mothers rose from 22.5% in 1997 to 42.3% in 2024.

For a country built on immigration, the numbers confirm a clear direction of travel: today’s newcomers are tomorrow’s parents, and in many parts of Canada, they already are.