Fertility & birth rates in Australia and Lesotho

Fertility rate in Australia vs Lesotho chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Australia was 1.5 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.69 in Lesotho in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Australia vs Lesotho population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Australia	Lesotho
1960	3.45	5.78
1961	3.54	5.79
1962	3.44	5.79
1963	3.33	5.78
1964	3.15	5.77
1965	2.98	5.77
1966	2.88	5.76
1967	2.85	5.75
1968	2.89	5.73
1969	2.89	5.7
1970	2.86	5.7
1971	2.96	5.7
1972	2.74	5.69
1973	2.49	5.69
1974	2.4	5.75
1975	2.15	5.83
1976	2.06	5.87
1977	2.01	5.85
1978	1.95	5.82
1979	1.91	5.79
1980	1.89	5.75
1981	1.94	5.69
1982	1.93	5.63
1983	1.92	5.56
1984	1.84	5.48
1985	1.92	5.4
1986	1.87	5.32
1987	1.85	5.22
1988	1.83	5.1
1989	1.84	4.96
1990	1.9	4.81
1991	1.85	4.68
1992	1.89	4.54
1993	1.86	4.37
1994	1.84	4.21
1995	1.82	4.13
1996	1.8	4.06
1997	1.78	3.98
1998	1.76	3.82
1999	1.76	3.67
2000	1.76	3.61
2001	1.74	3.63
2002	1.76	3.68
2003	1.75	3.62
2004	1.77	3.51
2005	1.81	3.43
2006	1.91	3.41
2007	1.96	3.44
2008	1.98	3.39
2009	1.97	3.31
2010	1.93	3.25
2011	1.93	3.34
2012	1.92	3.3
2013	1.86	3.28
2014	1.83	3.24
2015	1.81	3.22
2016	1.75	3.18
2017	1.74	3.11
2018	1.74	3.02
2019	1.66	2.92
2020	1.58	2.85
2021	1.7	2.77
2022	1.63	2.72
2023	1.5	2.69
2024	1.5	2.66
2025	1.5	2.64
2026	1.5	2.61
2027	1.5	2.58
2028	1.51	2.55
2029	1.5	2.53
2030	1.51	2.5
2031	1.5	2.47
2032	1.5	2.45
2033	1.5	2.43
2034	1.5	2.41
2035	1.5	2.38
2036	1.5	2.37
2037	1.5	2.34
2038	1.5	2.32
2039	1.5	2.3
2040	1.5	2.29
2041	1.5	2.27
2042	1.5	2.25
2043	1.5	2.24
2044	1.5	2.22
2045	1.5	2.21
2046	1.5	2.19
2047	1.5	2.18
2048	1.5	2.17
2049	1.5	2.16
2050	1.5	2.14

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Australia	Lesotho
1960	30.2%	45.1%
1961	30.2%	45.2%
1962	30.1%	45.3%
1963	29.9%	45.2%
1964	29.8%	44.9%
1965	29.6%	44.8%
1966	29.5%	44.9%
1967	29.3%	44.8%
1968	29.1%	44.4%
1969	28.9%	44%
1970	28.8%	43.6%
1971	28.7%	43.1%
1972	28.5%	42.7%
1973	28.2%	42.3%
1974	27.9%	41.9%
1975	27.5%	41.6%
1976	27%	41.4%
1977	26.5%	41.5%
1978	26.1%	41.7%
1979	25.6%	41.9%
1980	25.3%	42.1%
1981	25%	42.3%
1982	24.7%	42.5%
1983	24.4%	42.7%
1984	24%	42.8%
1985	23.6%	43%
1986	23.1%	42.7%
1987	22.7%	42.5%
1988	22.4%	42.7%
1989	22.2%	42.8%
1990	22%	42.9%
1991	21.9%	42.9%
1992	21.8%	42.8%
1993	21.7%	42.6%
1994	21.7%	42.3%
1995	21.5%	42%
1996	21.4%	41.7%
1997	21.2%	41.2%
1998	21.1%	40.7%
1999	20.9%	40.2%
2000	20.8%	39.6%
2001	20.6%	39.1%
2002	20.4%	38.6%
2003	20.2%	38.1%
2004	20%	37.7%
2005	19.8%	37.4%
2006	19.6%	37.1%
2007	19.4%	36.8%
2008	19.3%	36.7%
2009	19.2%	36.6%
2010	19.1%	36.5%
2011	19%	36.5%
2012	18.9%	36.5%
2013	18.9%	36.5%
2014	18.9%	36.6%
2015	18.9%	36.6%
2016	18.9%	36.6%
2017	18.8%	36.5%
2018	18.8%	36.3%
2019	18.7%	36.1%
2020	18.6%	35.8%
2021	18.4%	35.6%
2022	18.2%	35.3%
2023	18%	34.9%
2024	17.8%	34.5%
2025	17.7%	34.1%
2026	17.5%	33.6%
2027	17.4%	33.1%
2028	17.2%	32.6%
2029	17%	32%
2030	16.9%	31.5%
2031	16.7%	31%
2032	16.6%	30.5%
2033	16.5%	30.1%
2034	16.4%	29.7%
2035	16.3%	29.3%
2036	16.2%	29%
2037	16.1%	28.8%
2038	16%	28.5%
2039	15.9%	28.3%
2040	15.9%	28.1%
2041	15.8%	27.8%
2042	15.8%	27.6%
2043	15.7%	27.4%
2044	15.7%	27.1%
2045	15.7%	26.9%
2046	15.7%	26.7%
2047	15.7%	26.4%
2048	15.7%	26.2%
2049	15.7%	25.9%
2050	15.7%	25.7%

Children aged 0-14 make up 17.8% of the population in Australia and 34.5% in Lesotho in 2024, compared to 22% and 42.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Australia and Lesotho compared.

Natural population change in Australia vs Lesotho by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.56% in Australia and +1.44% in Lesotho. The chart below illustrates the comparison of the absolute yearly changes resulting from births and deaths.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Australia	Lesotho
1960	141,816	19,981
1961	150,955	20,581
1962	143,943	21,132
1963	140,161	21,585
1964	128,420	22,116
1965	122,990	22,755
1966	126,996	23,326
1967	126,249	23,911
1968	132,099	24,490
1969	143,477	25,137
1970	145,081	25,935
1971	165,593	26,838
1972	155,488	27,841
1973	136,476	28,859
1974	128,996	30,444
1975	123,648	32,311
1976	115,070	34,117
1977	117,793	35,654
1978	116,299	37,084
1979	116,112	38,440
1980	117,536	39,617
1981	125,356	40,808
1982	126,030	41,941
1983	130,844	42,899
1984	123,077	43,785
1985	143,674	44,575
1986	123,342	45,232
1987	128,484	47,718
1988	127,298	47,158
1989	127,789	46,264
1990	143,347	45,060
1991	138,273	44,026
1992	139,829	42,579
1993	137,551	40,505
1994	131,761	38,629
1995	131,436	37,370
1996	125,751	36,228
1997	121,592	34,637
1998	120,949	30,889
1999	118,517	27,393
2000	119,882	24,786
2001	117,575	23,190
2002	116,971	22,274
2003	118,325	20,133
2004	115,610	17,271
2005	129,132	15,831
2006	132,931	15,234
2007	154,124	17,763
2008	155,119	19,349
2009	160,518	20,335
2010	158,628	21,877
2011	156,380	25,647
2012	161,408	27,592
2013	159,584	29,789
2014	154,940	30,922
2015	150,041	32,087
2016	152,403	33,390
2017	150,015	33,601
2018	157,269	33,112
2019	136,808	32,279
2020	133,376	30,721
2021	138,701	27,806
2022	111,862	30,803
2023	103,945	31,115

Maternal mortality chart: Australia vs Lesotho

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 2 deaths per 100,000 live births in Australia, compared to 478 deaths in Lesotho.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Australia	Lesotho
1985	9	711
1986	8	680
1987	9	686
1988	9	680
1989	9	680
1990	9	665
1991	9	641
1992	9	601
1993	9	542
1994	9	423
1995	9	357
1996	8	319
1997	8	312
1998	7	332
1999	7	371
2000	7	413
2001	6	465
2002	6	484
2003	5	508
2004	5	499
2005	5	549
2006	5	696
2007	5	891
2008	5	1,205
2009	5	1,387
2010	5	1,311
2011	6	1,210
2012	6	1,000
2013	6	855
2014	6	707
2015	6	594
2016	6	518
2017	6	468
2018	5	491
2019	5	467
2020	5	529
2021	4	577
2022	4	477
2023	2	478

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.37% in Australia and 5.89% in Lesotho. Below is the historical data on under-five mortality rates.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Australia	Lesotho
1960	2.49%	18.6%
1961	2.43%	18.5%
1962	2.37%	18.5%
1963	2.32%	18.6%
1964	2.27%	18.6%
1965	2.24%	18.7%
1966	2.21%	18.6%
1967	2.2%	18.5%
1968	2.19%	18.3%
1969	2.18%	18%
1970	2.15%	17.7%
1971	2.1%	17.3%
1972	2.03%	16.9%
1973	1.94%	16.5%
1974	1.84%	16%
1975	1.73%	15.5%
1976	1.62%	14.9%
1977	1.52%	14.2%
1978	1.44%	13.6%
1979	1.36%	12.9%
1980	1.3%	12.3%
1981	1.26%	11.7%
1982	1.22%	11.1%
1983	1.19%	10.6%
1984	1.16%	10.1%
1985	1.13%	9.72%
1986	1.1%	9.36%
1987	1.06%	9.06%
1988	1.02%	8.8%
1989	0.97%	8.6%
1990	0.92%	8.47%
1991	0.87%	8.43%
1992	0.82%	8.51%
1993	0.77%	8.73%
1994	0.73%	9.07%
1995	0.7%	9.45%
1996	0.68%	9.83%
1997	0.66%	10.2%
1998	0.64%	10.5%
1999	0.63%	10.7%
2000	0.62%	10.9%
2001	0.61%	11.1%
2002	0.6%	11.2%
2003	0.59%	11.4%
2004	0.58%	11.5%
2005	0.57%	11.6%
2006	0.56%	11.5%
2007	0.54%	11.2%
2008	0.52%	10.9%
2009	0.5%	9.64%
2010	0.48%	9.01%
2011	0.45%	8.59%
2012	0.43%	8.26%
2013	0.41%	8.02%
2014	0.4%	7.82%
2015	0.39%	7.51%
2016	0.38%	7.18%
2017	0.38%	7.12%
2018	0.38%	6.91%
2019	0.38%	6.87%
2020	0.38%	6.68%
2021	0.37%	6.44%
2022	0.37%	6.15%
2023	0.37%	5.89%