Canada’s population has grown by a staggering amount in recent years, but babies have not been at the heart of the boom.

Statistics Canada revealed last week that 2023 was the second year in a row that Canada’s fertility rate hit an all-time low. The nation’s total fertility rate — a figure, based on current fertility levels, to determine the number of children a woman would be expected to have throughout her reproductive life — is at 1.26, down from 1.33 in 2022.