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Fertility rate by country

Children per woman in 2023: the number a woman would have if she lived through her childbearing years at that year’s age-specific rates. Unlike the birth rate, it does not depend on how young or old a country’s population happens to be.

What the fertility rate is

The total fertility rate is the number of children a woman would have if she lived through her entire childbearing life at one particular year's age-specific birth rates. It is a summary of a single year, assembled from the rates observed at every age in it. It is not a forecast about any real woman, and not the number of children the women alive today will finish with.

That construction is what makes it comparable. Because it is built from rates at each age, it does not care whether a country's population happens to be young or old, which means Somalia at 6.13 and Macao at 0.66 can be set side by side and the difference read as a difference in childbearing rather than in age structure.

Fertility rate and birth rate are different measures

The crude birth rate counts a year's births against the whole population (men, children and pensioners included). So a country with an unusually large share of adults of childbearing age posts a higher birth rate than a country with identical fertility and an older population. Colombia and France make the point: both are below replacement, at 1.65 and 1.64 children per woman, yet Colombia records 13.5 births per 1,000 people against France's 9.6. Which measure answers which question is worth getting right before reading any table of either.

Replacement level, and what falling below it means

Replacement level is about 2.1 children per woman: two to replace the parents, and a fraction more for children who do not reach adulthood. In 2023, 129 of 236 countries and areas are below it. That does not mean those populations are shrinking now: a country keeps producing births for decades after its fertility falls, because the people already born go on to have children. What replacement fertility actually is sets out why the number is 2.1 rather than 2, and why it is higher where child mortality is higher.

Replacement level is roughly 2.1 children per woman: two to replace the parents, plus a fraction to account for children who do not survive to adulthood. It is higher where child mortality is higher. A country below it will shrink over the long run unless migration makes up the difference, though the effect takes decades to show, because a population with many young adults keeps producing births for a generation after fertility falls.

Why the rate has fallen almost everywhere

Fertility has fallen in nearly every country in the UN record, and in some of them very fast: Taiwan went from 6.48 children per woman in 1950 to 0.87 today. Demographic research attributes the fall to later childbearing, longer education and paid work, reliable contraception, urbanisation, and the cost of housing and childcare, with the mix differing by country. Why fertility rates are dropping goes through the explanations, and is careful about which of them this dataset can and cannot show.

The two ends of the range

The gap between the highest and lowest fertility in the world is wider than at any earlier point in the UN record. The highest fertility rates are almost all in sub-Saharan Africa, led by Somalia at 6.13; the lowest are concentrated in East Asia and Europe, down to 0.66 in Macao.

Every country ranked by fertility rate, 2023

All 236 countries and areas with a published fertility rate, highest first. The rate is the UN's own figure for 2023; births and the crude birth rate beside it come from the same source, so the three columns are consistent with one another.

Total fertility rate, 2023. UN World Population Prospects 2024. Rows below replacement are the majority.
#Country or area Children per womanPer 1,000 BirthsReplacement
1 Somalia 6.13 43.0 789,000 above
2 Chad 6.12 42.4 819,000 above
3 Niger 6.06 41.9 1,100,000 above
4 DR Congo 6.05 41.3 4,370,000 above
5 Central African Republic 6.01 46.4 239,000 above
6 Mali 5.61 40.0 951,000 above
7 Angola 5.12 37.6 1,380,000 above
8 Burundi 4.88 33.7 461,000 above
9 Afghanistan 4.84 35.4 1,470,000 above
10 Mozambique 4.76 37.5 1,260,000 above
11 Mauritania 4.70 34.4 173,000 above
12 Mayotte 4.62 35.4 11,200 above
13 Tanzania 4.61 35.2 2,350,000 above
14 Yemen 4.59 35.2 1,390,000 above
15 Benin 4.56 33.9 478,000 above
16 Nigeria 4.48 33.0 7,510,000 above
17 Sudan 4.32 33.6 1,680,000 above
18 Cameroon 4.32 33.7 957,000 above
19 Côte d'Ivoire 4.28 32.0 997,000 above
20 Uganda 4.28 35.2 1,710,000 above
21 Guinea 4.22 33.9 488,000 above
22 Togo 4.19 31.1 290,000 above
23 Burkina Faso 4.19 31.6 729,000 above
24 Congo 4.16 30.6 189,000 above
25 Zambia 4.10 33.1 686,000 above
26 Equatorial Guinea 4.08 29.6 54,700 above
27 Gambia 4.01 30.4 82,100 above
28 Ethiopia 3.99 31.9 4,110,000 above
29 Madagascar 3.97 32.1 1,000,000 above
30 Liberia 3.95 31.0 170,000 above
31 Comoros 3.88 28.7 24,400 above
32 South Sudan 3.86 28.6 328,000 above
33 Guinea-Bissau 3.84 30.0 64,700 above
34 Samoa 3.83 25.4 5,500 above
35 Senegal 3.82 29.4 532,000 above
36 Sierra Leone 3.79 30.6 259,000 above
37 Zimbabwe 3.72 30.4 497,000 above
38 Eritrea 3.71 28.5 99,000 above
39 Rwanda 3.70 28.4 396,000 above
40 Malawi 3.65 31.4 662,000 above
41 Gabon 3.65 27.7 68,800 above
42 São Tomé & Príncipe 3.64 28.2 6,510 above
43 Pakistan 3.61 27.8 6,880,000 above
44 Vanuatu 3.60 28.1 8,990 above
45 Solomon Islands 3.56 26.9 21,600 above
46 Uzbekistan 3.50 26.5 943,000 above
47 Ghana 3.40 26.3 889,000 above
48 French Guiana 3.39 25.4 7,710 above
49 Nauru 3.33 25.5 303 above
50 Palestine 3.31 27.1 146,000 above
51 Iraq 3.25 25.7 1,160,000 above
52 Namibia 3.21 25.9 76,700 above
53 Kenya 3.21 27.1 1,500,000 above
54 Tuvalu 3.21 23.1 227 above
55 Kiribati 3.15 25.8 3,420 above
56 Tonga 3.13 23.1 2,420 above
57 Papua New Guinea 3.10 24.6 255,000 above
58 Tajikistan 3.07 26.1 271,000 above
59 Kazakhstan 3.01 20.1 409,000 above
60 Marshall Islands 2.92 21.1 821 above
61 Israel 2.83 18.6 172,000 above
62 Kyrgyzstan 2.80 21.3 151,000 above
63 Guam 2.78 17.7 2,940 above
64 Algeria 2.77 19.6 906,000 above
65 Eswatini 2.75 24.1 29,600 above
66 Egypt 2.75 21.0 2,410,000 above
67 Micronesia 2.75 22.3 2,510 above
68 Botswana 2.73 24.7 61,300 above
69 Saint Martin (French part) 2.72 17.1 470 above
70 Syria 2.71 22.1 522,000 above
71 Timor-Leste 2.71 22.1 30,600 above
72 Lesotho 2.69 24.1 55,700 above
73 Turkmenistan 2.69 21.7 160,000 above
74 Mongolia 2.69 18.9 65,000 above
75 Haiti 2.66 22.2 258,000 above
76 Jordan 2.64 20.6 236,000 above
77 Tokelau 2.61 19.6 47 above
78 Djibouti 2.61 20.8 23,900 above
79 Cambodia 2.58 20.8 362,000 above
80 Bolivia 2.55 21.3 260,000 above
81 Oman 2.53 16.9 85,100 above
82 Niue 2.51 13.9 25 above
83 Honduras 2.50 22.0 234,000 above
84 Paraguay 2.42 20.0 137,000 above
85 Laos 2.42 21.3 163,000 above
86 Guyana 2.41 20.3 16,800 above
87 Libya 2.36 17.0 124,000 above
88 Northern Mariana Islands 2.35 12.9 583 above
89 Guatemala 2.31 20.8 377,000 above
90 American Samoa 2.29 15.4 731 above
91 Fiji 2.28 18.0 16,600 above
92 Saudi Arabia 2.28 16.4 546,000 above
93 Suriname 2.25 17.3 10,900 above
94 Dominican Republic 2.24 17.9 203,000 above
95 Faroe Islands 2.24 12.6 690 above
96 Lebanon 2.24 16.1 93,200 above
97 Morocco 2.23 16.7 630,000 above
98 Nicaragua 2.22 19.4 132,000 above
99 South Africa 2.22 18.8 1,190,000 above
100 Réunion 2.17 13.7 12,000 above
101 Western Sahara 2.16 15.5 8,990 above
102 Bangladesh 2.16 20.4 3,490,000 above
103 Seychelles 2.13 13.6 1,740 above
104 Indonesia 2.13 15.9 4,480,000 above
105 Panama 2.12 16.0 71,500 above
106 Myanmar 2.12 16.7 904,000 above
107 Monaco 2.11 9.4 368 above
108 US Virgin Islands 2.09 11.2 959 below
109 Guadeloupe 2.09 11.2 4,230 below
110 Venezuela 2.08 15.1 427,000 below
111 Cook Islands 2.05 12.5 177 below
112 Martinique 2.01 10.8 3,730 below
113 Belize 2.01 18.0 7,410 below
114 Nepal 1.98 19.3 574,000 below
115 New Caledonia 1.98 14.3 4,130 below
116 Peru 1.98 15.9 539,000 below
117 India 1.98 16.2 23,200,000 below
118 Sri Lanka 1.97 14.1 324,000 below
119 Greenland 1.95 14.1 789 below
120 Philippines 1.92 16.0 1,840,000 below
121 Vietnam 1.91 13.8 1,390,000 below
122 Mexico 1.91 15.7 2,040,000 below
123 Palau 1.91 10.9 193 below
124 Gibraltar 1.89 12.1 464 below
125 Tunisia 1.83 13.8 168,000 below
126 Bahrain 1.82 12.5 19,600 below
127 Ecuador 1.82 15.0 270,000 below
128 Georgia 1.81 11.5 43,700 below
129 Montenegro 1.80 11.0 6,980 below
130 North Korea 1.78 13.0 342,000 below
131 El Salvador 1.78 15.8 99,400 below
132 St Vincent & Grenadines 1.78 12.2 1,230 below
133 Bulgaria 1.75 9.2 62,700 below
134 Brunei 1.75 13.6 6,240 below
135 Moldova 1.73 10.8 33,000 below
136 Qatar 1.73 9.9 29,500 below
137 Armenia 1.71 11.8 34,700 below
138 Romania 1.71 9.6 184,000 below
139 Barbados 1.71 11.2 3,150 below
140 Iran 1.70 13.0 1,170,000 below
141 Falkland Islands 1.69 11.3 39 below
142 Azerbaijan 1.67 12.1 125,000 below
143 New Zealand 1.67 11.5 59,200 below
144 Colombia 1.65 13.5 705,000 below
145 France 1.64 9.6 639,000 below
146 Australia 1.64 11.5 304,000 below
147 St Helena 1.64 7.3 39 below
148 Türkiye 1.63 12.3 1,070,000 below
149 United States 1.62 10.7 3,660,000 below
150 Brazil 1.62 12.3 2,600,000 below
151 Aruba 1.60 9.5 1,020 below
152 Ireland 1.60 10.3 53,300 below
153 Antigua & Barbuda 1.58 11.9 1,110 below
154 Slovenia 1.58 8.5 17,900 below
155 Maldives 1.58 11.0 5,800 below
156 United Kingdom 1.56 10.0 688,000 below
157 Slovakia 1.56 9.5 52,300 below
158 Malaysia 1.55 12.4 436,000 below
159 Isle of Man 1.55 8.3 702 below
160 Iceland 1.54 11.2 4,350 below
161 Liechtenstein 1.54 9.4 371 below
162 Trinidad & Tobago 1.53 10.7 16,100 below
163 Cayman Islands 1.53 11.8 865 below
164 Kuwait 1.53 10.2 49,400 below
165 Cape Verde 1.52 12.3 6,440 below
166 Denmark 1.51 9.7 57,800 below
167 Portugal 1.51 8.3 86,700 below
168 St Kitts & Nevis 1.51 11.7 549 below
169 French Polynesia 1.50 10.9 3,070 below
170 Argentina 1.50 11.1 504,000 below
171 Serbia 1.50 8.8 59,900 below
172 Grenada 1.49 11.7 1,370 below
173 Bosnia & Herzegovina 1.49 7.7 24,600 below
174 Hungary 1.49 8.8 85,300 below
175 Dominica 1.48 11.1 738 below
176 Caribbean Netherlands 1.47 9.4 280 below
177 Croatia 1.47 8.1 31,400 below
178 North Macedonia 1.47 9.2 16,900 below
179 Turks & Caicos 1.46 10.7 496 below
180 Bhutan 1.46 12.7 9,960 below
181 Russia 1.45 8.9 1,300,000 below
182 Czechia 1.45 8.5 91,900 below
183 Sint Maarten 1.45 9.1 390 below
184 Montserrat 1.44 8.9 40 below
185 Germany 1.44 8.5 720,000 below
186 Cuba 1.44 8.7 96,000 below
187 Switzerland 1.43 9.4 83,700 below
188 Netherlands 1.43 9.3 168,000 below
189 Sweden 1.43 9.3 97,900 below
190 Wallis & Futuna 1.41 8.6 98 below
191 Uruguay 1.41 9.9 33,400 below
192 Norway 1.41 9.3 51,500 below
193 Bermuda 1.40 8.1 521 below
194 Luxembourg 1.40 10.4 6,940 below
195 Cyprus 1.39 10.8 14,500 below
196 Belgium 1.38 8.7 102,000 below
197 St Lucia 1.38 11.3 2,020 below
198 Bahamas 1.37 10.9 4,330 below
199 Jersey 1.37 8.2 853 below
200 Anguilla 1.36 9.0 130 below
201 Guernsey 1.36 8.1 521 below
202 Jamaica 1.36 11.6 33,000 below
203 Estonia 1.35 8.1 11,000 below
204 Canada 1.35 9.1 357,000 below
205 Albania 1.35 10.2 28,800 below
206 Latvia 1.34 7.6 14,200 below
207 Greece 1.33 7.2 73,600 below
208 Costa Rica 1.33 10.2 52,000 below
209 Austria 1.32 8.4 77,100 below
210 Poland 1.30 8.2 318,000 below
211 Finland 1.28 7.8 43,600 below
212 St Pierre & Miquelon 1.27 5.2 30 below
213 Mauritius 1.24 9.3 11,800 below
214 Spain 1.21 7.0 337,000 below
215 Thailand 1.21 8.2 591,000 below
216 Belarus 1.21 7.1 65,100 below
217 Japan 1.21 6.0 750,000 below
218 Lithuania 1.20 7.5 21,400 below
219 UAE 1.20 9.8 104,000 below
220 Italy 1.20 6.5 384,000 below
221 Chile 1.17 9.0 176,000 below
222 San Marino 1.15 5.9 200 below
223 Malta 1.10 7.9 4,210 below
224 Andorra 1.08 6.9 555 below
225 Curaçao 1.07 7.5 1,390 below
226 British Virgin Islands 1.05 8.3 325 below
227 China 1.00 6.3 8,910,000 below
228 Holy See 1.00 4.2 2 below
229 Ukraine 0.98 5.6 212,000 below
230 Singapore 0.94 8.2 47,500 below
231 Puerto Rico 0.94 5.8 18,900 below
232 Taiwan 0.87 5.7 132,000 below
233 Saint Barthélemy 0.80 4.8 53 below
234 South Korea 0.72 4.6 236,000 below
235 Hong Kong 0.72 5.6 41,300 below
236 Macao 0.66 6.3 4,510 below

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