Fertility & birth rates in Belgium and South Africa

Fertility rate in Belgium vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Belgium was 1.47 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Belgium vs South Africa population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Belgium	South Africa
1960	2.54	6.11
1961	2.63	6.08
1962	2.59	6.05
1963	2.68	6.01
1964	2.71	5.96
1965	2.61	5.89
1966	2.52	5.91
1967	2.41	5.85
1968	2.31	5.78
1969	2.27	5.72
1970	2.25	5.63
1971	2.21	5.57
1972	2.09	5.49
1973	1.95	5.41
1974	1.83	5.3
1975	1.74	5.19
1976	1.73	5.07
1977	1.71	4.94
1978	1.69	4.85
1979	1.69	4.82
1980	1.68	4.78
1981	1.66	4.71
1982	1.61	4.7
1983	1.57	4.63
1984	1.54	4.57
1985	1.51	4.5
1986	1.54	4.41
1987	1.54	4.35
1988	1.57	4.18
1989	1.58	3.98
1990	1.62	3.72
1991	1.66	3.62
1992	1.65	3.48
1993	1.61	3.37
1994	1.56	3.26
1995	1.56	3.17
1996	1.59	2.99
1997	1.6	2.73
1998	1.6	2.63
1999	1.62	2.56
2000	1.67	2.41
2001	1.67	2.37
2002	1.65	2.32
2003	1.67	2.36
2004	1.72	2.44
2005	1.76	2.51
2006	1.8	2.55
2007	1.82	2.55
2008	1.85	2.68
2009	1.84	2.5
2010	1.86	2.44
2011	1.81	2.44
2012	1.8	2.45
2013	1.76	2.43
2014	1.74	2.42
2015	1.7	2.36
2016	1.68	2.26
2017	1.65	2.28
2018	1.62	2.27
2019	1.6	2.26
2020	1.55	2.26
2021	1.6	2.25
2022	1.53	2.23
2023	1.47	2.22
2024	1.47	2.21
2025	1.48	2.19
2026	1.49	2.17
2027	1.49	2.15
2028	1.5	2.13
2029	1.51	2.12
2030	1.51	2.1
2031	1.52	2.09
2032	1.52	2.07
2033	1.53	2.06
2034	1.53	2.05
2035	1.54	2.04
2036	1.54	2.03
2037	1.54	2.02
2038	1.55	2
2039	1.55	1.99
2040	1.56	1.98
2041	1.56	1.98
2042	1.56	1.97
2043	1.57	1.96
2044	1.57	1.95
2045	1.57	1.94
2046	1.57	1.93
2047	1.58	1.92
2048	1.58	1.91
2049	1.59	1.9
2050	1.59	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Belgium	South Africa
1960	23.7%	42.1%
1961	23.8%	42.1%
1962	23.8%	42.1%
1963	23.9%	42.1%
1964	23.9%	42.1%
1965	24%	42.1%
1966	24%	42.1%
1967	23.9%	42.2%
1968	23.9%	42.2%
1969	23.8%	42.2%
1970	23.6%	42.3%
1971	23.5%	42.2%
1972	23.3%	42.2%
1973	23%	42.1%
1974	22.6%	42%
1975	22.2%	41.9%
1976	21.8%	41.8%
1977	21.4%	41.7%
1978	21%	41.5%
1979	20.6%	41.3%
1980	20.3%	40.9%
1981	19.9%	40.5%
1982	19.6%	40.1%
1983	19.4%	39.8%
1984	19.1%	39.5%
1985	18.8%	39.2%
1986	18.6%	38.9%
1987	18.3%	38.7%
1988	18.2%	38.4%
1989	18.1%	38.1%
1990	18.1%	37.7%
1991	18.2%	37.5%
1992	18.2%	37.6%
1993	18.1%	37.3%
1994	18.1%	37.2%
1995	18%	37.5%
1996	17.9%	37.5%
1997	17.8%	37.2%
1998	17.7%	36.5%
1999	17.7%	35.7%
2000	17.6%	34.9%
2001	17.5%	34%
2002	17.5%	33.2%
2003	17.3%	32.3%
2004	17.2%	31.6%
2005	17.1%	31.1%
2006	17%	30.6%
2007	16.9%	30.2%
2008	16.9%	29.9%
2009	16.9%	29.7%
2010	16.9%	29.4%
2011	17%	29.1%
2012	17%	28.9%
2013	17%	28.7%
2014	17%	28.5%
2015	17%	28.3%
2016	17%	28.3%
2017	17%	28.3%
2018	16.9%	27.9%
2019	16.9%	27.4%
2020	16.8%	27%
2021	16.7%	26.6%
2022	16.5%	26.3%
2023	16.3%	26.1%
2024	16%	25.9%
2025	15.7%	25.7%
2026	15.4%	25.6%
2027	15.1%	25.4%
2028	14.9%	25.3%
2029	14.6%	25.2%
2030	14.4%	25.2%
2031	14.2%	25.1%
2032	14%	25%
2033	13.8%	24.8%
2034	13.6%	24.5%
2035	13.5%	24.3%
2036	13.4%	23.9%
2037	13.3%	23.6%
2038	13.3%	23.4%
2039	13.3%	23.1%
2040	13.4%	22.9%
2041	13.4%	22.7%
2042	13.5%	22.5%
2043	13.5%	22.4%
2044	13.6%	22.2%
2045	13.7%	22.1%
2046	13.8%	21.9%
2047	13.8%	21.8%
2048	13.9%	21.7%
2049	13.9%	21.6%
2050	13.9%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in Belgium and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 18.1% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Belgium and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Belgium vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in Belgium and +1.05% in South Africa. 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
	Belgium	South Africa
1960	40,275	421,263
1961	52,349	437,851
1962	42,414	455,634
1963	41,804	473,821
1964	51,580	490,606
1965	39,748	506,632
1966	36,206	534,862
1967	31,618	553,741
1968	20,199	571,841
1969	21,221	590,794
1970	23,173	605,102
1971	21,281	624,761
1972	18,451	638,754
1973	11,690	651,596
1974	7,818	658,438
1975	0	667,862
1976	1,964	675,011
1977	8,847	680,929
1978	7,872	694,341
1979	11,818	716,541
1980	10,845	738,415
1981	11,831	767,833
1982	7,885	807,550
1983	2,956	837,013
1984	4,927	869,011
1985	2,958	893,889
1986	5,917	903,644
1987	11,844	922,330
1988	14,853	909,221
1989	13,912	884,629
1990	19,935	835,421
1991	22,010	827,296
1992	20,090	794,415
1993	14,118	789,220
1994	12,139	698,609
1995	11,150	743,488
1996	12,188	710,868
1997	12,218	667,969
1998	9,183	627,027
1999	9,203	594,643
2000	12,302	526,963
2001	11,315	484,801
2002	7,233	430,926
2003	7,263	415,018
2004	16,673	442,540
2005	15,718	464,464
2006	21,096	487,584
2007	23,376	503,567
2008	22,491	595,332
2009	23,752	554,115
2010	23,970	566,834
2011	25,388	601,708
2012	18,882	643,723
2013	16,739	652,427
2014	21,297	674,754
2015	11,274	668,771
2016	14,731	641,365
2017	10,238	645,975
2018	7,999	648,319
2019	8,042	652,130
2020	-12,692	595,873
2021	5,793	456,411
2022	-2,336	603,636
2023	0	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Belgium vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in Belgium, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Belgium	South Africa
1985	9	208
1986	9	200
1987	9	192
1988	9	184
1989	9	177
1990	9	170
1991	9	162
1992	9	152
1993	9	145
1994	9	133
1995	9	125
1996	9	150
1997	8	152
1998	8	152
1999	8	151
2000	8	175
2001	8	192
2002	7	225
2003	7	245
2004	7	259
2005	7	279
2006	6	283
2007	7	272
2008	6	272
2009	6	241
2010	6	226
2011	6	202
2012	5	194
2013	6	180
2014	5	162
2015	5	150
2016	5	141
2017	5	134
2018	5	128
2019	4	119
2020	4	118
2021	7	191
2022	11	129
2023	4	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.36% in Belgium and 3.47% in South Africa. 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
	Belgium	South Africa
1960	3.39%	-
1961	3.25%	-
1962	3.12%	-
1963	3%	-
1964	2.89%	-
1965	2.79%	-
1966	2.7%	-
1967	2.62%	-
1968	2.55%	-
1969	2.48%	-
1970	2.39%	-
1971	2.3%	-
1972	2.19%	-
1973	2.08%	-
1974	1.97%	13.2%
1975	1.86%	12.5%
1976	1.76%	11.8%
1977	1.67%	11.1%
1978	1.59%	10.5%
1979	1.52%	9.88%
1980	1.45%	9.35%
1981	1.39%	8.84%
1982	1.33%	8.39%
1983	1.27%	7.98%
1984	1.22%	7.6%
1985	1.18%	7.24%
1986	1.14%	6.89%
1987	1.1%	6.56%
1988	1.07%	6.26%
1989	1.03%	6.01%
1990	1%	5.82%
1991	0.96%	5.7%
1992	0.92%	5.66%
1993	0.87%	5.7%
1994	0.82%	5.82%
1995	0.77%	5.95%
1996	0.72%	6.11%
1997	0.67%	6.29%
1998	0.64%	6.56%
1999	0.61%	6.85%
2000	0.59%	7.11%
2001	0.57%	7.43%
2002	0.55%	7.69%
2003	0.53%	7.93%
2004	0.52%	8.1%
2005	0.5%	8.03%
2006	0.49%	7.75%
2007	0.48%	7.19%
2008	0.47%	6.42%
2009	0.46%	5.7%
2010	0.45%	5%
2011	0.44%	4.5%
2012	0.43%	4.25%
2013	0.42%	4.1%
2014	0.42%	3.96%
2015	0.41%	3.82%
2016	0.41%	3.68%
2017	0.4%	3.58%
2018	0.4%	3.49%
2019	0.39%	3.45%
2020	0.39%	3.41%
2021	0.38%	3.41%
2022	0.37%	3.44%
2023	0.36%	3.47%