Fertility & birth rates in Belgium and Switzerland

Fertility rate in Belgium vs Switzerland 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 1.33 in Switzerland in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Belgium vs Switzerland 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	Switzerland
1960	2.54	2.44
1961	2.63	2.52
1962	2.59	2.58
1963	2.68	2.65
1964	2.71	2.66
1965	2.61	2.59
1966	2.52	2.5
1967	2.41	2.39
1968	2.31	2.29
1969	2.27	2.19
1970	2.25	2.1
1971	2.21	2.04
1972	2.09	1.91
1973	1.95	1.81
1974	1.83	1.73
1975	1.74	1.61
1976	1.73	1.55
1977	1.71	1.53
1978	1.69	1.51
1979	1.69	1.52
1980	1.68	1.55
1981	1.66	1.55
1982	1.61	1.56
1983	1.57	1.52
1984	1.54	1.53
1985	1.51	1.52
1986	1.54	1.53
1987	1.54	1.52
1988	1.57	1.57
1989	1.58	1.56
1990	1.62	1.58
1991	1.66	1.58
1992	1.65	1.58
1993	1.61	1.51
1994	1.56	1.49
1995	1.56	1.48
1996	1.59	1.5
1997	1.6	1.48
1998	1.6	1.47
1999	1.62	1.48
2000	1.67	1.5
2001	1.67	1.38
2002	1.65	1.39
2003	1.67	1.39
2004	1.72	1.42
2005	1.76	1.42
2006	1.8	1.44
2007	1.82	1.46
2008	1.85	1.48
2009	1.84	1.5
2010	1.86	1.52
2011	1.81	1.52
2012	1.8	1.52
2013	1.76	1.52
2014	1.74	1.54
2015	1.7	1.54
2016	1.68	1.54
2017	1.65	1.52
2018	1.62	1.52
2019	1.6	1.48
2020	1.55	1.46
2021	1.6	1.52
2022	1.53	1.39
2023	1.47	1.33
2024	1.47	1.33
2025	1.48	1.34
2026	1.49	1.34
2027	1.49	1.35
2028	1.5	1.35
2029	1.51	1.35
2030	1.51	1.35
2031	1.52	1.36
2032	1.52	1.36
2033	1.53	1.37
2034	1.53	1.37
2035	1.54	1.37
2036	1.54	1.38
2037	1.54	1.38
2038	1.55	1.38
2039	1.55	1.38
2040	1.56	1.39
2041	1.56	1.39
2042	1.56	1.39
2043	1.57	1.4
2044	1.57	1.4
2045	1.57	1.4
2046	1.57	1.4
2047	1.58	1.41
2048	1.58	1.41
2049	1.59	1.41
2050	1.59	1.41

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Belgium	Switzerland
1960	23.7%	24%
1961	23.8%	24%
1962	23.8%	24.1%
1963	23.9%	24.1%
1964	23.9%	24.1%
1965	24%	24.1%
1966	24%	24.2%
1967	23.9%	24.1%
1968	23.9%	24%
1969	23.8%	23.8%
1970	23.6%	23.8%
1971	23.5%	23.7%
1972	23.3%	23.5%
1973	23%	23.2%
1974	22.6%	22.8%
1975	22.2%	22.4%
1976	21.8%	22%
1977	21.4%	21.4%
1978	21%	20.9%
1979	20.6%	20.3%
1980	20.3%	19.7%
1981	19.9%	19.2%
1982	19.6%	18.8%
1983	19.4%	18.3%
1984	19.1%	18%
1985	18.8%	17.6%
1986	18.6%	17.4%
1987	18.3%	17.2%
1988	18.2%	17.1%
1989	18.1%	17%
1990	18.1%	17.1%
1991	18.2%	17.2%
1992	18.2%	17.3%
1993	18.1%	17.5%
1994	18.1%	17.6%
1995	18%	17.6%
1996	17.9%	17.7%
1997	17.8%	17.6%
1998	17.7%	17.6%
1999	17.7%	17.5%
2000	17.6%	17.4%
2001	17.5%	17.1%
2002	17.5%	16.8%
2003	17.3%	16.6%
2004	17.2%	16.4%
2005	17.1%	16.1%
2006	17%	15.9%
2007	16.9%	15.6%
2008	16.9%	15.4%
2009	16.9%	15.3%
2010	16.9%	15.2%
2011	17%	15.1%
2012	17%	15%
2013	17%	14.9%
2014	17%	14.9%
2015	17%	14.9%
2016	17%	14.9%
2017	17%	14.9%
2018	16.9%	15%
2019	16.9%	15%
2020	16.8%	15.1%
2021	16.7%	15.1%
2022	16.5%	15.1%
2023	16.3%	15%
2024	16%	15%
2025	15.7%	14.9%
2026	15.4%	14.8%
2027	15.1%	14.7%
2028	14.9%	14.6%
2029	14.6%	14.5%
2030	14.4%	14.3%
2031	14.2%	14.1%
2032	14%	14%
2033	13.8%	13.8%
2034	13.6%	13.6%
2035	13.5%	13.5%
2036	13.4%	13.3%
2037	13.3%	13.2%
2038	13.3%	13.1%
2039	13.3%	13%
2040	13.4%	12.9%
2041	13.4%	12.8%
2042	13.5%	12.8%
2043	13.5%	12.7%
2044	13.6%	12.8%
2045	13.7%	12.8%
2046	13.8%	12.8%
2047	13.8%	12.9%
2048	13.9%	12.9%
2049	13.9%	13%
2050	13.9%	13.1%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in Belgium and 15% in Switzerland in 2024, compared to 18.1% and 17.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Belgium and Switzerland compared.

Natural population change in Belgium vs Switzerland by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in Belgium and +0.2% in Switzerland. 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	Switzerland
1960	40,275	42,090
1961	52,349	48,365
1962	42,414	49,050
1963	41,804	52,956
1964	51,580	59,050
1965	39,748	56,222
1966	36,206	53,854
1967	31,618	52,128
1968	20,199	47,328
1969	21,221	44,182
1970	23,173	42,648
1971	21,281	38,523
1972	18,451	35,061
1973	11,690	30,906
1974	7,818	27,902
1975	0	22,820
1976	1,964	17,017
1977	8,847	16,959
1978	7,872	13,820
1979	11,818	14,477
1980	10,845	14,535
1981	11,831	13,979
1982	7,885	15,339
1983	2,956	12,837
1984	4,927	16,105
1985	2,958	14,882
1986	5,917	16,261
1987	11,844	15,708
1988	14,853	21,099
1989	13,912	19,941
1990	19,935	20,146
1991	22,010	23,800
1992	20,090	24,064
1993	14,118	21,509
1994	12,139	20,982
1995	11,150	19,010
1996	12,188	19,801
1997	12,218	17,722
1998	9,183	16,353
1999	9,203	16,431
2000	12,302	15,806
2001	11,315	10,845
2002	7,233	10,199
2003	7,263	8,807
2004	16,673	13,302
2005	15,718	11,899
2006	21,096	12,723
2007	23,376	13,592
2008	22,491	15,295
2009	23,752	15,487
2010	23,970	17,997
2011	25,388	18,990
2012	18,882	18,393
2013	16,739	17,797
2014	21,297	21,290
2015	11,274	19,050
2016	14,731	22,608
2017	10,238	20,284
2018	7,999	20,434
2019	8,042	18,008
2020	-12,692	9,502
2021	5,793	18,279
2022	-2,336	7,899
2023	0	7,999

Maternal mortality chart: Belgium vs Switzerland

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 5 deaths in Switzerland.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Belgium	Switzerland
1985	9	15
1986	9	14
1987	9	14
1988	9	15
1989	9	14
1990	9	14
1991	9	14
1992	9	13
1993	9	13
1994	9	12
1995	9	12
1996	9	11
1997	8	10
1998	8	10
1999	8	9
2000	8	9
2001	8	8
2002	7	9
2003	7	8
2004	7	8
2005	7	8
2006	6	8
2007	7	7
2008	6	7
2009	6	7
2010	6	7
2011	6	7
2012	5	7
2013	6	7
2014	5	6
2015	5	6
2016	5	7
2017	5	6
2018	5	6
2019	4	6
2020	4	5
2021	7	4
2022	11	4
2023	4	5

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.36% in Belgium and 0.39% in Switzerland. 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	Switzerland
1960	3.39%	2.65%
1961	3.25%	2.6%
1962	3.12%	2.53%
1963	3%	2.45%
1964	2.89%	2.36%
1965	2.79%	2.26%
1966	2.7%	2.16%
1967	2.62%	2.07%
1968	2.55%	1.99%
1969	2.48%	1.92%
1970	2.39%	1.84%
1971	2.3%	1.76%
1972	2.19%	1.67%
1973	2.08%	1.57%
1974	1.97%	1.48%
1975	1.86%	1.38%
1976	1.76%	1.29%
1977	1.67%	1.21%
1978	1.59%	1.14%
1979	1.52%	1.09%
1980	1.45%	1.04%
1981	1.39%	1%
1982	1.33%	0.97%
1983	1.27%	0.94%
1984	1.22%	0.92%
1985	1.18%	0.9%
1986	1.14%	0.89%
1987	1.1%	0.88%
1988	1.07%	0.86%
1989	1.03%	0.84%
1990	1%	0.82%
1991	0.96%	0.78%
1992	0.92%	0.75%
1993	0.87%	0.71%
1994	0.82%	0.67%
1995	0.77%	0.64%
1996	0.72%	0.62%
1997	0.67%	0.6%
1998	0.64%	0.58%
1999	0.61%	0.57%
2000	0.59%	0.56%
2001	0.57%	0.55%
2002	0.55%	0.54%
2003	0.53%	0.53%
2004	0.52%	0.52%
2005	0.5%	0.51%
2006	0.49%	0.49%
2007	0.48%	0.48%
2008	0.47%	0.47%
2009	0.46%	0.46%
2010	0.45%	0.46%
2011	0.44%	0.45%
2012	0.43%	0.44%
2013	0.42%	0.44%
2014	0.42%	0.43%
2015	0.41%	0.43%
2016	0.41%	0.42%
2017	0.4%	0.41%
2018	0.4%	0.41%
2019	0.39%	0.4%
2020	0.39%	0.4%
2021	0.38%	0.4%
2022	0.37%	0.4%
2023	0.36%	0.39%