Excerpts from The Daily article: Canada recorded its highest number of births&emdash;and its highest total fertility rate&emdash;in seven years in 2005, thanks mostly to women in their 30s. However, the total fertility rate is still far below the replacement level fertility. Canada's total fertility rate in 2005 was 1.54 children per woman, an increase from 1.53 in the previous year and the highest rate since 1998. This is still well below what is known as the replacement level fertility (2.1 children per woman). In total, 342,176 babies were born in 2005, up 1.5% from the previous year. This growth rate was more than double the 0.6% increase in 2004. In 2005, the number of births was the highest since 1998, when 342,418 babies were born in Canada. The number of births dropped to a 55-year low in 2000. Since then, the number of births has gone up every year except 2002. As of 2001, most babies were born to parents belonging to the echo generation (the children of baby boomers), who were already in their prime childbearing years.