Non-resident births have more than doubled from pandemic-era levels as the Liberal government rejects Conservative efforts to restrict automatic birthright citizenship.
Canadian hospitals recorded 5,430 “non-resident self-pay” births in 2024–25 — more than double the pandemic-era average of 2,339 and up 4 per cent from the previous year. They represented roughly 1.5 per cent of births nationwide.
Ontario accounted for 2,895 births, followed by Quebec with 1,417, British Columbia with 542 and Alberta with 345, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
The figures do not exclusively represent birth tourists. They also include international students, temporary foreign workers and other non-residents paying for hospital care.
An earlier IRCC study estimated roughly two-thirds of non-resident self-pay births outside Quebec involved short-term visitors, but cautioned the figure is not a definitive measure of birth tourism.
