Historical abortion statistics, Canada

Abortion statistics and other data--Johnston`s Archive

Historical abortion statistics, Canada

compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last updated 3 July 2022

Definition of table data (see notes after table for additional information):

Live births.
Abortions, reported includes legal reported induced abortions.
Abortions (AWR) are combined reported and estimated abortion occurrences from the Abortion Worldwide Report and working papers.
Abortions, residents, in country only includes reported abortions obtained within the country by residents only.
Abortions, residents, obtained abroad includes reported abortions by country residents obtained in other countries.
Abortions, residents, total includes reported abortions by residents, obtained both within the country and abroad.
Fetal deaths generally includes fetal deaths or stillbirths of at least 20 weeks` gestation.
Miscarriages generally includes spontaneous fetal losses/ abortions, fetal deaths, or stillbirths, regardless of gestation period.
Abortion ratio is abortions per 1000 live births.
Abortion % is abortions as percentage of pregnancies (excluding fetal deaths/miscarriages).
Abortion rate, residents is abortions by residency per 1000 women ages 15-44.
Abortion rate, occurrences (AWR) is abortion occurrences from Abortion Worldwide Report figures per 1000 women ages 15-39.

Canada regional level data also available here.

year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)
1921	264,879							9,089
1922	259,825							8,536
1923	247,404							8,425
1924	251,351							8,401
1925	249,365							8,176
1926	240,015							7,245
1927	241,149							7,464
1928	243,616							7,673
1929	242,226							7,720
1930	250,335							7,847
1931	247,205							7,778
1932	242,698							7,396
1933	229,791							6,988
1934	228,296							6,613
1935	228,396							6,594
1936	227,980							6,531
1937	227,869							6,433
1938	237,091							6,595
1939	237,991							6,515
1940	252,577							6,810
1941	263,993							7,091
1942	281,569							7,319
1943	292,943							6,988
1944	293,967							6,895
1945	300,587							6,884
1946	343,504							7,368
1947	372,589							7,646
1948	359,860							7,071
1949	367,092							7,285
1950	372,009							7,192
1951	381,092							7,023
1952	403,559							7,277
1953	417,884							6,991
1954	436,198							7,231
1955	442,937							6,918
1956	450,739							6,976
1957	469,093							6,837
1958	470,118							6,726
1959	479,275							6,560
1960	478,551							6,471
1961	475,700							6,019
1962	469,693							5,882
1963	465,767							5,732
1964	452,915							5,520
1965	418,595							4,847
1966	387,710							4,429
1967	370,894							4,248
1968	364,310				106	106		3,926	0.29		0.03
1969	369,647		(2,000)		382	4,378		3,694	11.8		1.17
1970	371,988	11,200	11,200	11,152	299	11,451	48	3,687	30.8	30.1	2.99	2.92	2.5
1971	362,187	30,949	30,949	37,232	6,309	43,541	26	3,396	120.2	85.5	10.73	7.87	7.8
1972	347,319	38,905	38,905	45,426	6,573	51,999	52	3,046	149.7	112.0	13.02	10.07	9.3
1973	343,373	43,245	43,245	48,702	5,501	54,203	44	2,866	157.9	125.9	13.63	11.19	9.7
1974	345,645	48,198	48,198	52,435	4,299	56,734	62	2,766	164.1	139.4	14.10	12.24	10.2
1975	348,110	49,390	49,390	53,705	10,000	63,705	79	3,382	183.0	141.9	15.47	12.43	10.2
1976	348,857	54,536	54,536	58,712	4,234	62,946	58	2,543	180.4	156.3	15.29	13.52	10.8
1977	361,400	57,620	57,620	59,864	2,300	62,164	56	3,108	172.0	159.4	14.68	13.75	10.8
1978	358,852	64,969	64,969	66,710	1,802	68,512	61	2,880	190.9	181.0	16.03	15.33	11.8
1979	366,064	68,764	68,764	69,745	1,073	70,818	92	2,808	193.5	187.8	16.21	15.81	12.1
1980	370,709	70,559	70,559	72,099	3,970	76,069	104	2,697	205.2	190.3	17.03	15.99	12.2
1981	371,346	69,334	69,334	71,911	5,000	76,911	74	2,729	207.1	186.7	17.16	15.73	11.9
1982	373,082	70,825	70,825	75,071	5,400	80,471	65	2,704	215.7	189.8	17.74	15.95	12.3
1983	373,689	65,435	65,435	69,368	3,983	73,351	50	2,581	196.3	175.1	16.41	14.90	11.2
1984	377,031	65,862	65,862	69,449	3,631	73,080	44	2,383	193.8	174.7	16.24	14.87	11.1
1985	375,727	66,446	66,446	69,216	2,798	72,014	28	2,379	191.7	176.8	16.08	15.03	11.0
1986	372,431	67,006	67,006	69,572	2,612	72,184	46	2,318	193.8	179.9	16.24	15.25	10.9
1987	369,441	67,343	67,343	70,023	2,757	72,780	77	2,336	197.0	182.3	16.46	15.42	10.9
1988	375,743	70,868	70,868	72,693	1,939	74,632	114	2,301	198.6	188.6	16.57	15.87	11.2
1989	391,925	77,838	77,838	79,315	1,551	80,866	74	2,493	206.3	198.6	17.10	16.57	12.0
1990	404,669	91,476	91,476	92,901	1,573	94,474	148	1,598	233.5	226.1	18.93	18.44	13.9	16.28
1991	402,528	93,885	93,885	95,059	1,439	96,498	265	2,314	239.7	233.2	19.34	18.91	14.2	16.51
1992	398,642	101,726	101,726	102,085	526	102,611	167	1,512	257.4	255.2	20.47	20.33	15.2	17.86
1993	388,394	104,192	104,192	104,403	461	104,864	250	1,498	270.0	268.3	21.26	21.15	15.5	18.29
1994	385,112	106,179	106,179	106,255	338	106,593	262	1,420	276.8	275.7	21.68	21.61	15.7	18.66
1995	378,011	107,870	107,870	108,248	459	108,707	81	1,369	287.6	285.4	22.33	22.20	16.0	19.00
1996	364,732	111,456	111,456	111,659	301	111,960	98	1,256	307.0	305.6	23.49	23.41	16.4	19.68
1997	348,598	111,526	111,526	111,709	293	112,002	110	1,206	321.3	319.9	24.32	24.24	16.4	19.79
1998	342,418	110,223	110,223	110,331	297	110,628	189		323.1	321.9	24.42	24.35	16.2	19.68
1999	337,249	105,631	105,631	105,666	231	105,897	196		314.0	313.2	23.90	23.85	15.5	18.96
2000	327,882	105,454	105,454	105,427	215	105,642	242		322.2	321.6	24.37	24.34	15.5	18.95
2001	333,744	113,660	113,660	106,418	175	106,593	80		319.4	340.6	24.21	25.40	15.6	20.53
2002	328,802	113,957	(114,000)	105,154	152	105,306	304		320.3	346.6	24.26	25.74	15.4	20.71
2003	335,202	114,917	(115,000)	103,768	149	103,917	407	1,027	310.0	342.8	23.66	25.53	15.2	21.04
2004	336,003	111,479	(112,900)	100,039	165	100,204	724	972	298.2	331.8	22.97	24.91	14.1	20.78
2005	342,176	110,135	(112,100)	96,815	125	96,940	439	1,012	283.3	321.9	22.08	24.35	13.7	20.70
2006	350,181	97,384	(115,400)	91,377	133	91,510	67	1,078	261.3	278.1	20.72	21.76		21.28
2007	367,864	115,556	115,556	(98,754)	161	98,915		1,172	268.9	314.1	21.19	23.90		21.16
2008	377,886	113,558	(116,100)	(95,876)	147	96,023		1,170	254.1	300.5	20.26	23.11		21.04
2009	380,863	112,229	(114,800)	(93,755)	111	93,866		1,145	246.5	294.7	19.77	22.76		20.57
2010	377,213	108,596	(111,100)	(90,747)	137	90,884		1,084	240.9	287.9	19.42	22.35		19.70
2011	377,897	110,498	110,498	(92,524)	124	92,648		1,115	245.2	292.4	19.69	22.62		19.39
2012	382,980	(100,958)	(107,700)	(83,675)	84	83,769		1,102	218.7	263.6	17.95	20.86		18.75
2013	386,044	(102,446)	(105,600)	(35,003)	74	35,077		1,077	90.9	265.4	8.33	20.97		18.28
2014	388,729	(100,194)	(104,100)	(33,931)	8	33,939		1,140	87.3	257.7	8.03	20.49		17.94
2015	382,392	(100,104)	(101,400)	(31,911)	3	31,914		1,078	83.5	261.8	7.70	20.75		17.47
2016	383,102	(97,764)	(98,800)	30,767		30,767		1,068	80.3	255.2	7.43	20.33		17.00
2017	376,291	(94,030)	(95,000)	29,564	4	29,568		1,073	78.6	249.9	7.29	19.99		16.34
2018	372,699	85,195	(85,700)	26,475	3	26,478		1,040	71.0	228.6	6.63	18.61		14.72
2019	374,885	83,576	(84,100)	24,820		24,820		1,065	66.2	222.9	6.21	18.23		14.41
2020	358,604	74,155	(75,000)	21,809		21,809		1,007	60.8	206.8	5.73	17.14		12.85
2021			(71,000)											(12.2)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, occurrences by non-residents	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents	abortion rate, occurences (AWR)

Notes:

Parenthetical figures are estimates, some of which are derived from reported data.
Abortion ratios, percentages, and rates may be based on a mix of data from different sources and thus may not represent a consistent time series.

Sources:

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© 2000-2021, 2022 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 3 July 2022.
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