Table 1.
Characteristics of mothers and infants for singleton live births by maternal birthplace: Canada (excluding Ontario), 1990–2005
| Foreign-Born by Mother’s Country/Region of Birth | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian-born | US | North Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Haiti | Non-Spanish Caribbean | Latin America | Pakistan | South Asia | Central/West Asia | East/SE Asia | Europe | Rest of the World | |
| Infant sex, % | |||||||||||||
| Male | 51.3 | 51.3 | 51.6 | 50.7 | 50.1 | 50.4 | 51.5 | 51.2 | 52.7 | 51.2 | 51.7 | 51.5 | 50.9 |
| Female (reference) | 48.7 | 48.7 | 48.4 | 49.3 | 49.9 | 49.6 | 48.5 | 48.8 | 47.3 | 48.8 | 48.4 | 48.5 | 49.1 |
| Mother's Age, % | |||||||||||||
| Under 20 | 7.0 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.8 |
| 20–24 (reference) | 21.6 | 16.5 | 10.8 | 13.1 | 15.7 | 16.6 | 21.2 | 19.9 | 22.4 | 21.1 | 8.1 | 11.0 | 17.4 |
| 25–29 | 34.1 | 30.6 | 29.8 | 32.2 | 27.9 | 29.4 | 31.1 | 37.7 | 40.3 | 33.9 | 27.0 | 31.0 | 34.2 |
| 30–34 | 26.6 | 30.5 | 35.1 | 35.0 | 30.0 | 30.1 | 27.0 | 27.6 | 26.1 | 27.7 | 38.1 | 35.5 | 31.3 |
| 35+ | 10.7 | 18.8 | 23.5 | 17.9 | 22.8 | 20.0 | 15.2 | 13.6 | 10.4 | 13.8 | 25.7 | 21.0 | 15.3 |
| Marital status, % | |||||||||||||
| Single | 37.7 | 14.7 | 2.7 | 11.9 | 31.6 | 31.0 | 18.0 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 8.1 | 11.4 | 5.7 |
| Married (reference) | 56.5 | 80.6 | 95.5 | 82.6 | 59.3 | 63.8 | 76.1 | 97.8 | 95.4 | 96.4 | 86.7 | 83.6 | 88.5 |
| Other/Missing | 5.8 | 4.8 | 1.8 | 5.6 | 9.1 | 5.3 | 5.9 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 5.9 |
| Parity, % | |||||||||||||
| Primiparous | 43.6 | 37.0 | 42.1 | 38.4 | 36.8 | 38.2 | 38.1 | 33.3 | 45.1 | 34.6 | 47.2 | 41.9 | 44.3 |
| Multiparous (reference) | 55.3 | 62.1 | 57.7 | 61.2 | 63.3 | 61.3 | 61.7 | 66.4 | 54.7 | 64.5 | 52.5 | 57.6 | 55.4 |
| Missing | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Province of residence, % | |||||||||||||
| Québec (reference) | 38.0 | 19.5 | 88.3 | 35.8 | 99.2 | 45.3 | 44.5 | 34.9 | 14.5 | 59.6 | 14.7 | 28.2 | 3.3 |
| British Columbia | 16.3 | 32.5 | 3.3 | 26.0 | 0.2 | 11.4 | 18.7 | 23.4 | 62.8 | 8.7 | 51.0 | 33.9 | 63.3 |
| Prairiesa | 31.7 | 33.5 | 6.7 | 34.8 | 0.5 | 38.7 | 35.2 | 39.4 | 21.5 | 26.4 | 32.8 | 32.6 | 30.7 |
| Otherb | 14.0 | 14.5 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 0.1 | 4.7 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 5.3 | 2.8 |
| Birth cohort, % | |||||||||||||
| 1990–1993 (reference) | 28.9 | 31.2 | 17.2 | 18.0 | 26.6 | 29.4 | 22.4 | 11.4 | 19.4 | 24.0 | 17.9 | 30.2 | 19.3 |
| 1994–1997 | 25.9 | 26.8 | 20.6 | 22.3 | 27.6 | 27.6 | 25.6 | 18.3 | 25.5 | 25.7 | 27.4 | 26.2 | 30.1 |
| 1998–2001 | 22.8 | 21.9 | 20.4 | 25.4 | 23.7 | 23.5 | 23.6 | 27.8 | 26.3 | 23.5 | 26.4 | 22.1 | 26.4 |
| 2002–2005 | 22.3 | 20.0 | 41.7 | 34.3 | 22.1 | 19.2 | 28.4 | 42.6 | 28.8 | 26.8 | 28.3 | 21.5 | 24.2 |
| Total number of births | 2,856,394 | 41,601 | 17,991 | 24,339 | 20,057 | 10,499 | 38,702 | 7,500 | 68,558 | 27,491 | 138,024 | 108,515 | 10,970 |
| Share of total births (%) | 84.7 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 3.2 | 0.3 |
Universe consists of singleton live births to women residing in Canada (excluding Ontario) with non-missing information on mother’s birthplace and maternal and infant characteristics
χ2 statistic indicates that differences in proportions by maternal birthplace for all covariates are statistically significant at p < 0.001 level
aPrairie provinces include Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg
bIncludes Atlantic provinces (Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick), Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut), and unknown Canadian province of residence