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By Liam Verster

Birth Rate Decreases

North, Central Okanagan birth rates decline

Apr 11, 2025 | 11:15 AM

Birth rates fell locally to start the year.

Figures from Vital Statistics, B.C.’s data collection agency, showed almost all the local health areas in the North and Central Okanagan recorded declines in births in the first quarter of 2025.

In the North Okanagan there were 138 births recorded between January 1 and March 31. The decline was mainly attributed to birth rates dropping the Vernon, Coldstream, Armstrong and Spallumcheen.

The Central Okanagan also saw a similar trend in the first quarter of 2025.

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Vital Statistics figures showed there were 383 births in the area, as birth rates declined in nearly all jurisdictions, with Rutland and Lake Country seeing the largest decreases.

Vital Statistics did not include data for Central Okanagan Rural East in Q1 of 2025. It did note there were five births in the area in Q4 of 2024, and two births there in the first three months of 2024.

B.C. as a whole also recorded a decrease in the birth rates.

Vital Statistics figures showed there were 9,046 births throughout the province int he first three months of the year.

That total was down from the 10,935 births in Q4 of 2024, and from the 10,410 births in B.C. in the first quarter of the previous year.