Fertility & birth rates in Australia and South Korea

Fertility rate in Australia vs South Korea 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 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Australia vs South Korea 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	South Korea
1960	3.45	5.99
1961	3.54	5.8
1962	3.44	5.56
1963	3.33	5.33
1964	3.15	5.07
1965	2.98	4.89
1966	2.88	4.78
1967	2.85	4.62
1968	2.89	4.51
1969	2.89	4.45
1970	2.86	4.53
1971	2.96	4.54
1972	2.74	4.12
1973	2.49	4.07
1974	2.4	3.77
1975	2.15	3.43
1976	2.06	3
1977	2.01	2.99
1978	1.95	2.64
1979	1.91	2.9
1980	1.89	2.82
1981	1.94	2.57
1982	1.93	2.39
1983	1.92	2.06
1984	1.84	1.74
1985	1.92	1.66
1986	1.87	1.58
1987	1.85	1.53
1988	1.83	1.55
1989	1.84	1.56
1990	1.9	1.57
1991	1.85	1.71
1992	1.89	1.76
1993	1.86	1.65
1994	1.84	1.66
1995	1.82	1.63
1996	1.8	1.57
1997	1.78	1.54
1998	1.76	1.46
1999	1.76	1.43
2000	1.76	1.48
2001	1.74	1.31
2002	1.76	1.18
2003	1.75	1.19
2004	1.77	1.16
2005	1.81	1.09
2006	1.91	1.13
2007	1.96	1.26
2008	1.98	1.19
2009	1.97	1.15
2010	1.93	1.23
2011	1.93	1.24
2012	1.92	1.3
2013	1.86	1.19
2014	1.83	1.21
2015	1.81	1.24
2016	1.75	1.17
2017	1.74	1.05
2018	1.74	0.98
2019	1.66	0.92
2020	1.58	0.84
2021	1.7	0.81
2022	1.63	0.78
2023	1.5	0.72
2024	1.5	0.73
2025	1.5	0.75
2026	1.5	0.76
2027	1.5	0.78
2028	1.51	0.79
2029	1.5	0.8
2030	1.51	0.82
2031	1.5	0.83
2032	1.5	0.84
2033	1.5	0.85
2034	1.5	0.86
2035	1.5	0.88
2036	1.5	0.89
2037	1.5	0.9
2038	1.5	0.91
2039	1.5	0.92
2040	1.5	0.93
2041	1.5	0.95
2042	1.5	0.96
2043	1.5	0.96
2044	1.5	0.97
2045	1.5	0.98
2046	1.5	0.99
2047	1.5	1
2048	1.5	1.01
2049	1.5	1.02
2050	1.5	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Australia	South Korea
1960	30.2%	41.3%
1961	30.2%	41.8%
1962	30.1%	42.3%
1963	29.9%	42.7%
1964	29.8%	43.1%
1965	29.6%	43.3%
1966	29.5%	43.5%
1967	29.3%	43.3%
1968	29.1%	43.1%
1969	28.9%	42.7%
1970	28.8%	42.1%
1971	28.7%	41.5%
1972	28.5%	41%
1973	28.2%	40.3%
1974	27.9%	39.5%
1975	27.5%	38.5%
1976	27%	37.5%
1977	26.5%	36.5%
1978	26.1%	35.6%
1979	25.6%	34.8%
1980	25.3%	34%
1981	25%	33.3%
1982	24.7%	32.7%
1983	24.4%	32%
1984	24%	31.2%
1985	23.6%	30.2%
1986	23.1%	29.2%
1987	22.7%	28.2%
1988	22.4%	27.3%
1989	22.2%	26.5%
1990	22%	25.8%
1991	21.9%	25.2%
1992	21.8%	24.7%
1993	21.7%	24.2%
1994	21.7%	23.7%
1995	21.5%	23.1%
1996	21.4%	22.5%
1997	21.2%	22%
1998	21.1%	21.6%
1999	20.9%	21.2%
2000	20.8%	21%
2001	20.6%	20.8%
2002	20.4%	20.5%
2003	20.2%	20.1%
2004	20%	19.7%
2005	19.8%	19.2%
2006	19.6%	18.7%
2007	19.4%	18.1%
2008	19.3%	17.5%
2009	19.2%	16.9%
2010	19.1%	16.4%
2011	19%	15.8%
2012	18.9%	15.2%
2013	18.9%	14.7%
2014	18.9%	14.2%
2015	18.9%	13.8%
2016	18.9%	13.4%
2017	18.8%	13%
2018	18.8%	12.7%
2019	18.7%	12.4%
2020	18.6%	12.1%
2021	18.4%	11.8%
2022	18.2%	11.4%
2023	18%	11%
2024	17.8%	10.6%
2025	17.7%	10.2%
2026	17.5%	9.82%
2027	17.4%	9.42%
2028	17.2%	9.06%
2029	17%	8.75%
2030	16.9%	8.43%
2031	16.7%	8.15%
2032	16.6%	7.94%
2033	16.5%	7.79%
2034	16.4%	7.7%
2035	16.3%	7.66%
2036	16.2%	7.65%
2037	16.1%	7.66%
2038	16%	7.68%
2039	15.9%	7.71%
2040	15.9%	7.73%
2041	15.8%	7.75%
2042	15.8%	7.76%
2043	15.7%	7.77%
2044	15.7%	7.78%
2045	15.7%	7.79%
2046	15.7%	7.8%
2047	15.7%	7.81%
2048	15.7%	7.82%
2049	15.7%	7.82%
2050	15.7%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 17.8% of the population in Australia and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 22% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Australia and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Australia vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.56% in Australia and +0.06% in South Korea. 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	South Korea
1960	141,816	728,010
1961	150,955	730,173
1962	143,943	712,590
1963	140,161	685,824
1964	128,420	655,501
1965	122,990	641,090
1966	126,996	623,534
1967	126,249	692,169
1968	132,099	684,487
1969	143,477	694,227
1970	145,081	747,987
1971	165,593	789,185
1972	155,488	740,469
1973	136,476	699,115
1974	128,996	673,030
1975	123,648	603,300
1976	115,070	530,558
1977	117,793	578,947
1978	116,299	499,084
1979	116,112	623,068
1980	117,536	583,294
1981	125,356	631,189
1982	126,030	605,626
1983	130,844	514,844
1984	123,077	436,384
1985	143,674	416,219
1986	123,342	395,651
1987	128,484	378,758
1988	127,298	399,297
1989	127,789	403,266
1990	143,347	411,546
1991	138,273	467,594
1992	139,829	494,352
1993	137,551	477,302
1994	131,761	473,200
1995	131,436	468,967
1996	125,751	446,142
1997	121,592	422,773
1998	120,949	393,436
1999	118,517	368,272
2000	119,882	390,167
2001	117,575	312,643
2002	116,971	247,752
2003	118,325	244,251
2004	115,610	225,988
2005	129,132	187,920
2006	132,931	203,441
2007	154,124	248,286
2008	155,119	215,841
2009	160,518	197,231
2010	158,628	213,083
2011	156,380	214,728
2012	161,408	215,859
2013	159,584	166,415
2014	154,940	167,464
2015	150,041	163,248
2016	152,403	122,923
2017	150,015	71,907
2018	157,269	30,951
2019	136,808	10,353
2020	133,376	-31,101
2021	138,701	-56,947
2022	111,862	-124,014
2023	103,945	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Australia vs South Korea

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 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Australia	South Korea
1985	9	38
1986	8	35
1987	9	34
1988	9	31
1989	9	29
1990	9	28
1991	9	28
1992	9	26
1993	9	24
1994	9	23
1995	9	22
1996	8	20
1997	8	19
1998	7	18
1999	7	17
2000	7	15
2001	6	14
2002	6	13
2003	5	13
2004	5	12
2005	5	11
2006	5	10
2007	5	10
2008	5	9
2009	5	9
2010	5	8
2011	6	8
2012	6	8
2013	6	7
2014	6	7
2015	6	6
2016	6	6
2017	6	6
2018	5	5
2019	5	5
2020	5	12
2021	4	5
2022	4	7
2023	2	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.37% in Australia and 0.28% in South Korea. 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	South Korea
1960	2.49%	11.2%
1961	2.43%	10.6%
1962	2.37%	10.1%
1963	2.32%	9.67%
1964	2.27%	9.18%
1965	2.24%	8.68%
1966	2.21%	8.16%
1967	2.2%	7.62%
1968	2.19%	7.1%
1969	2.18%	6.59%
1970	2.15%	6.12%
1971	2.1%	5.71%
1972	2.03%	5.36%
1973	1.94%	5.07%
1974	1.84%	4.82%
1975	1.73%	4.61%
1976	1.62%	4.42%
1977	1.52%	4.23%
1978	1.44%	4.04%
1979	1.36%	3.84%
1980	1.3%	3.63%
1981	1.26%	3.4%
1982	1.22%	3.17%
1983	1.19%	2.93%
1984	1.16%	2.7%
1985	1.13%	2.46%
1986	1.1%	2.25%
1987	1.06%	2.05%
1988	1.02%	1.87%
1989	0.97%	1.71%
1990	0.92%	1.57%
1991	0.87%	1.44%
1992	0.82%	1.33%
1993	0.77%	1.23%
1994	0.73%	1.14%
1995	0.7%	1.05%
1996	0.68%	0.98%
1997	0.66%	0.91%
1998	0.64%	0.85%
1999	0.63%	0.8%
2000	0.62%	0.75%
2001	0.61%	0.71%
2002	0.6%	0.68%
2003	0.59%	0.64%
2004	0.58%	0.6%
2005	0.57%	0.56%
2006	0.56%	0.52%
2007	0.54%	0.48%
2008	0.52%	0.45%
2009	0.5%	0.43%
2010	0.48%	0.41%
2011	0.45%	0.4%
2012	0.43%	0.38%
2013	0.41%	0.37%
2014	0.4%	0.36%
2015	0.39%	0.35%
2016	0.38%	0.34%
2017	0.38%	0.33%
2018	0.38%	0.32%
2019	0.38%	0.31%
2020	0.38%	0.3%
2021	0.37%	0.29%
2022	0.37%	0.28%
2023	0.37%	0.28%