Our youth

	A kid plays in water Photo: Margarita Chen

Over the last 100 years, Canada's infant mortality rate has declined dramatically. In 1901, 134 of every 1,000 infants—roughly 1 in 7—died in their first year. By 2001, that rate had declined to 5.2 per 1,000, meaning only 1 in every 192 babies died before his/her first birthday.

In 1999, the leading causes of infant death were perinatal causes, such as obstetrical complications and prematurity, and congenital anomalies. Boys are less likely to survive their first year than girls. In 2001, there were 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births for infant boys compared with 4.6 per 1,000 for infant girls.

Aboriginal children are almost twice as likely to die in their first year of life compared with other Canadian children and the risk of death increases for Aboriginal children after the newborn phase. The leading causes of death among Aboriginal babies are sudden infant death syndrome and congenital anomalies, followed by deaths due to respiratory conditions, including pneumonia.

Women under the age of 20 and over the age of 44 are more likely to give birth to an infant with low birth weight, which is a factor that can impair an infant's chance of survival. In 2001, 5.5% of all infants born in Canada were underweight—less than 2.5 kilograms—at birth.

The number of births by teenaged mothers has declined since the 1970s; by 1995, this number was down 60% from two decades earlier. The fertility rate fell from 17.3 births for every 1,000 women aged 15 to 19 in 2000 to a new low of 16.3 in 2001.

For women aged 45 and older, the birth rate has declined steadily and dramatically over the last 80 years: 6.6 in 1921, 2.4 in 1961, and 0.3 in 2001.

Infants who make it past their first year usually lead healthy lives well into adulthood. Sometimes, however, unintentional injuries and suicide end the lives of Canadian youth.

In 2001, there were 3,643 deaths among children and youth under 20 years of age. The largest proportion of these deaths, 28%, was due to accidents and suicide.

Accidents are the leading cause of death among children and youth, accounting for 784 deaths in 2001. Two out of three of those were transport accidents.

Among this age group in 2001, suicide was responsible for 6.4% of deaths, down from 9.5% in 2000.

After accidents and suicide, the next two leading causes of death among children and youth were conditions originating during the perinatal period, and congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities. Together, these causes were responsible for 1,473 deaths in 2001—over 90% of which occurred before the age of one.