How many babies are born in South Africa each year?

An estimated 1.17 million babies are born in South Africa in 2026, according to the UN World Population Prospects 2024 medium projection. That is about 3,197 a day and 0.88% of all births worldwide.

What is the birth rate in South Africa?

South Africa has an estimated 17.8 births per 1,000 people in 2026, and a total fertility rate of 2.17 children per woman.

Africa · Southern Africa

How many babies are born in South Africa?

1.17 million babies born in South Africa in 2026 — 0.88% of all births worldwide, and the 25th largest of any country. UN projection

3,197births per day
133per hour
2per minute
17.8births per 1,000 people
2.17children per woman
65.45 millionpopulation

Plus or minus about 6%. These years have not happened yet or have not been counted yet. They are the medium variant of the UN's projection, not a record of births that took place.

Births in South Africa through history

Estimated annual births in South Africa, 0 CE to 2026, on a logarithmic scale. The shaded band on the left marks the years where births are modelled rather than recorded. The marker sits on 2026.

Every figure refers to the area inside South Africa's present-day borders. Before 1800 the state did not exist in its current form — see how borders are handled.
Year	Estimated births	Population	Per 1,000	Evidence
1 CE	~3.8K	~93K	41.1	Modelled estimate
1000	~11K	~260K	41.4	Modelled estimate
1500	~21K	~520K	41.3	Modelled estimate
1800	~64.8K	~1.45M	44.8	Historical reconstruction
1900	~231K	~5.16M	44.8	Historical reconstruction
1950	534K	13M	41.0	UN estimate
2000	1.02M	47.2M	21.6	UN estimate
2024	1.18M	64M	18.5	UN projection
2026	1.17M	65.5M	17.8	UN projection

What the numbers show

Annual births in South Africa are at their highest in the whole run of estimates in 2008, at about 1.24M. That is roughly 307 times the estimated ~3.8K births a year in 1 CE.

At 2.17 children per woman, fertility in South Africa is above the level of about 2.1 that would hold a population steady over the long run without migration.

See South Africa on the map

Where these numbers come from

2026 figures are the UN World Population Prospects 2024 medium variant. Earlier years come from the UN's estimates (1950 onward), Gapminder's reconstructions (1800–1949) and a model applied to HYDE population estimates (before 1800). The full chain is set out in the methodology, and every source is listed on the sources page.