were over five in 1966. In September 1966 Canada's population passed the 20 million
mark. Most of this surging growth came from natural increase. The depression of the
1930's and the war had held back marriages, and the catching-up process began after
1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the1950's, producing a
population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This
rate of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canada's history, in the decade
before 1911. when the prairies were being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic
conditions of the 1950's supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also
derived from a trend toward earlier marriages and an increase in the average size of
families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in
the world.