OTTAWA -- Canadians continue to have fewer babies -- a persistent, ominous trend that has brought the number of children to the country's lowest-ever level and has major implications for sustaining a stable labour force and social services, according to census data for 2006.

The only regions that are bucking the trend are Canada's Prairie provinces and territories, where fertility rates are above the national average, the Statistics Canada data, released Tuesday, reveal.

The average birth rate in Canada is about 1.5 children per woman, a rate that has been below the replacement level since the 1970s. But the latest census data also show that the number of children under the age of 15 declined by 2.5 per cent between 2001 and 2006, to about 5.6 million. At 18 per cent of the total population, the proportion of children in Canada was the lowest ever recorded.

Canada is just one of many developed countries grappling with falling birth rates. Experts fear a host of social and economic problems could erupt if policy-makers don't address the reasons that are keeping people from having more children.

"Some people talk about low fertility simply being a lifestyle choice, but I think there might be more to it in terms of the challenges associated with it," said Clarence Lochhead, executive director of the Vanier Institute of the Family.

Research shows many people say they want to have children, but fall short of their intentions, Lochhead said. There appear to be significant barriers to starting a family, such as the time devoted to completing an education first, and the demands of a career. It's a trend that will continue unless governments look seriously at the factors keeping people from parenthood, as well as possible incentives to encourage higher birth rates, he said…

The number of young people in Quebec was just under 1.3 million in 2006. This represented a decrease from 17.8 per cent of the population in 2001 to 16.6 in 2006.

British Columbia's birth rate was also lower than the national average in 2006, but that has been the case since the beginning of the 20th century. Children 14 and younger comprised 16.5 per cent of B.C.'s population in 2006.

By contrast, nearly one in five people in Canada's Prairie provinces are 14 and younger, the census reveals. Although all three Prairie provinces have higher fertility rates than the national average, Manitoba is home to the highest number of children 14 and younger -- more than 225,000, making up nearly 20 per cent of its population.

But the highest proportion of young people live in the territories. For instance, in the N.W.T, nearly 10,000 people, or one-fourth of the population, were 14 and younger in 2006….