Improved public health: a game changer
The reduction in infant and child mortality beginning in the 1910s paved the way for the upcoming baby boom.
At the time, Quebec did not have systematic data on its population dynamics. It was only in 1926 that the province officially compiled vital statistics such as births, deaths and marriages. As Laplante explains, these statistics were a shock to authorities.
“They saw that children were dropping like flies. This information woke people up, and that’s when new public health policies were introduced, reducing infant mortality rates long before the advent of antibiotics,” he says.
The construction of sewers, as well as the widespread introduction of vaccinations, sanitary measures and improved nutrition, played a central role. Infant mortality fell from 127 deaths per 1,000 in 1926 to 83 per 1,000 in 1936, and continued to improve in the subsequent years.
As a result of these measures, a greater number of women survived childhood and married in large numbers after the war.
A demographic microsimulation method developed by demographer and INRS professor Alain Bélanger was used to calculate exactly how these phenomena contributed to the baby boom. The Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics provided some of the data for research purposes.
This innovative method allowed researchers to assess the impact of different scenarios on the number of births during the baby boom.
Another important driver of the boom was the favourable economic context, which made it easier for couples to tie the knot, along with a decreased interest in religious vocations. In short, more people were getting married, and at a younger age.
“We were giving the increased marriage rate most of the credit for Quebec’s baby boom, but married women were having fewer children on average, so this wasn’t a sufficient reason,” says Gauvreau.
The study shows that immigration was also a major contributor to the size of the post-war generation, accounting for 14 per cent of births.
Lower fertility accounted for a 3 per cent reduction in birth rates, meaning the baby boom was ultimately a matter of there being more families rather than larger ones.
The researchers hope this method can be applied in other countries that have experienced baby booms to highlight the varied causes across different societies.
The study, The Mechanics of the Baby Boom: Unveiling the Role of the Epidemiologic Transition, is co-authored by Gauvreau and Laplante, as well as Patrick Sabourin and Samuel Vézina, doctoral candidates at INRS. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) provided the financial support.
Read the full study: The Mechanics of the Baby Boom: Unveiling the Role of the Epidemiologic Transition
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