214 RELATION OF ORIGIN TO FERTILITY AND INFANT MORTALITY 
TABLE 132.—PERCENTAGE UNDER 10 YEARS OF AE OF SPECIFIED ORIGIN GROUPS IN CANADA, 
Origin 
British... voveune sw ve 
TPEnEB. covv vse Caw dan vonviinn CREE REE EERE vE # } Bobi MOIIRRTE 4 po 
North Western Europeans (Continental}....cv.ciiiueiirieiroriionineieioonineinnss ween 
South, Eastern and Central FUrOpean. ... oc vvuerneernecrcoracereroniteeincessnees cnennens 
SCANAIMAVIAT. tov vont vrnrirrnerrun nde fia eras rane esnarneraaesnttersntisssnaneessans 
JOrmMAaniC. . ...oeiirenienn ann Cee ee tt wn women won sists 
watin and Greek.....- 
3avic, eeu... 
(1) 
2ercentage 
of group 
under 
10 years 
of age 
21-0 
"7-8 
43 
-0 
(2) 
Percentages 
in Column 1 
related to 
that for the 
British stocks 
as a base 
% 
0 
119 
118 
153 
162 
Birth Rates in the Prairie Provinces, 1926—The cogency of the above remarks 
's apparent when an examination is made of births in the Prairie Provinces in 
1926. Table 133 was prepared from data given in the ‘Census of 1926 and statistics 
on births for that year. A few explanations may not be out of place. A standard 
Hirth rate was computed in the following manner: the number of births in the 
Prairie Provinces to mothers in the several guinquennial age groups was related to the 
aumber of women in the population of corresponding ages. A standard rate was thus 
found for the whole female populatien between 15 and 49 years. This was applied to the 
age distribution of the women of the several origins, and an expected rate was computed 
ior each stock. This expected rate appears in Column 1, Table 133. The difference between 
the figure of 10.6 for the French snd that of 10.3 for the total population is due entirely 
*o the more favourable age distribution of the women of French origin. The percentages 
‘or the other stocks are subject to a similar interpretation. In Column 3 the expected rates 
are expressed as percentages of the slandard rate. The age distribution of the French 
women between 15 and 49 years was 2.9 p.c. more favourable to fertility than that of 
the total female population between those ages, that of the Danish women 5.8 p.c. more 
favourable, that of the Icelandic women 7.8 p.c. and so on. Column 4 expresses the 
actual rates as percentages of the standard rate, and in Column 5 we have an index of 
fertilityl obtained by expressing the actual rates given in Column 2 as percentages of the 
axpected rates of Column 1. By expressing the actual in terms of the expected, the influence 
of age distribution is eliminated. In Column 6 the index of fertility shown in Column 5 
is expressed as a percentage of the rate for the British stocks. 
A comparison of Column 2 and Column 4 confirms the suggestion made in a preceding 
part of this chapter, that differences in age distribution are by no means adequate to 
explain variations in the crude birth rates. Only with the Greeks is the age distribution 
of the women between 15 and 49 years responsible for a variation of as much as 10 p.c. 
from the standard number of births, and the number of Greek women in the Prairie 
Provinces was so small that the exception is unimportant. For all but three origins 
variations in fertility are many times more important than differences in birth rate due 
;0 age distribution. The index of fertility in Column 5 being free from the influence of 
age, the dispersion in the percentages furnishes conclusive evidence of significant differences 
in the birth rates for the women of the different origin groups in Canada. 
High fertility may be due in part to larger proportions married—especially in the 
younger ages. (It was shown in Chapter III that foreign born women had a larger 
oercentage married and hence might be expected to have proportionately more children 
than the British born and Canadian born). On the other hand, a high birth rate may be a 
true social or biological characteristic. 
1 This index of fertility is in terms of all women of the several origin groups. While the age factor is 
removed, differences in conjugal condition are reflected in the index. This fact should be kept in mind in 
reading this section.