Fertility & birth rates in Botswana and Namibia

Fertility rate in Botswana vs Namibia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Botswana was 2.73 children per woman in 2023, compared to 3.21 in Namibia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Botswana vs Namibia population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Botswana	Namibia
1960	6.6	6.24
1961	6.56	6.29
1962	6.54	6.35
1963	6.58	6.41
1964	6.61	6.43
1965	6.6	6.45
1966	6.61	6.47
1967	6.6	6.49
1968	6.58	6.5
1969	6.56	6.51
1970	6.55	6.52
1971	6.54	6.52
1972	6.56	6.53
1973	6.59	6.54
1974	6.61	6.55
1975	6.61	6.53
1976	6.6	6.49
1977	6.54	6.44
1978	6.48	6.38
1979	6.4	6.31
1980	6.29	6.24
1981	6.16	6.16
1982	5.97	6.08
1983	5.79	6
1984	5.63	5.94
1985	5.48	5.88
1986	5.33	5.79
1987	5.1	5.7
1988	4.88	5.61
1989	4.67	5.52
1990	4.51	5.4
1991	4.37	5.29
1992	4.26	5.11
1993	4.15	4.91
1994	4.02	4.68
1995	3.79	4.42
1996	3.57	4.2
1997	3.43	4.17
1998	3.36	4.18
1999	3.31	4.14
2000	3.29	3.99
2001	3.25	3.83
2002	3.18	3.69
2003	3.11	3.58
2004	3.06	3.55
2005	3.08	3.57
2006	3.11	3.6
2007	3.13	3.61
2008	3.13	3.62
2009	3.13	3.63
2010	3.14	3.66
2011	3.1	3.66
2012	3.07	3.68
2013	3.05	3.65
2014	3.03	3.64
2015	3.01	3.6
2016	2.99	3.57
2017	2.97	3.51
2018	2.94	3.46
2019	2.91	3.4
2020	2.86	3.35
2021	2.83	3.3
2022	2.79	3.25
2023	2.73	3.21
2024	2.7	3.21
2025	2.66	3.17
2026	2.63	3.13
2027	2.59	3.09
2028	2.56	3.06
2029	2.52	3.02
2030	2.49	2.98
2031	2.46	2.94
2032	2.44	2.91
2033	2.41	2.88
2034	2.38	2.84
2035	2.35	2.81
2036	2.32	2.78
2037	2.3	2.75
2038	2.28	2.72
2039	2.26	2.68
2040	2.23	2.66
2041	2.21	2.63
2042	2.2	2.6
2043	2.18	2.58
2044	2.17	2.56
2045	2.15	2.53
2046	2.14	2.51
2047	2.12	2.49
2048	2.11	2.47
2049	2.09	2.45
2050	2.08	2.43

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Botswana	Namibia
1960	45.1%	42.2%
1961	45.6%	42.4%
1962	46.2%	42.6%
1963	46.8%	42.7%
1964	47.2%	42.9%
1965	47.5%	43%
1966	47.9%	43.2%
1967	48.2%	43.3%
1968	48.6%	43.5%
1969	48.9%	43.6%
1970	49.2%	43.8%
1971	49.3%	43.9%
1972	49.1%	44.1%
1973	48.6%	44.3%
1974	48.2%	44.6%
1975	47.7%	44.8%
1976	47.3%	45%
1977	47%	45.3%
1978	46.5%	45.9%
1979	46%	46.3%
1980	46.1%	46.6%
1981	46.2%	47.1%
1982	46.2%	47.2%
1983	46.2%	46.9%
1984	46.2%	46.6%
1985	46.2%	46.2%
1986	46.1%	45.8%
1987	46%	45.3%
1988	45.8%	44.8%
1989	45.5%	43.4%
1990	45.1%	42.3%
1991	44.7%	42.2%
1992	44.2%	42.2%
1993	43.7%	42.2%
1994	43%	42.2%
1995	42.2%	42.1%
1996	41.4%	42%
1997	40.6%	41.9%
1998	39.8%	41.8%
1999	39.1%	41.7%
2000	38.4%	41.5%
2001	37.7%	41.3%
2002	37.1%	41%
2003	36.5%	40.5%
2004	35.9%	40%
2005	35.5%	39.4%
2006	35.1%	38.7%
2007	34.8%	38.1%
2008	34.5%	37.5%
2009	34.2%	37.1%
2010	34.1%	36.8%
2011	34%	36.7%
2012	34.2%	36.6%
2013	34.4%	36.6%
2014	34.4%	36.5%
2015	34.4%	36.5%
2016	34.2%	36.5%
2017	33.9%	36.7%
2018	33.6%	36.8%
2019	33.3%	37%
2020	32.9%	37.1%
2021	32.6%	37.4%
2022	32.4%	37.5%
2023	32.3%	37.3%
2024	32.1%	37%
2025	32%	36.7%
2026	31.8%	36.3%
2027	31.6%	35.9%
2028	31.4%	35.5%
2029	31.2%	35.1%
2030	30.9%	34.6%
2031	30.6%	34%
2032	30.3%	33.5%
2033	30%	32.9%
2034	29.6%	32.4%
2035	29.2%	31.8%
2036	28.7%	31.1%
2037	28.1%	30.6%
2038	27.6%	30.3%
2039	27.2%	30%
2040	26.7%	29.7%
2041	26.3%	29.5%
2042	25.9%	29.2%
2043	25.5%	29%
2044	25.2%	28.8%
2045	24.8%	28.5%
2046	24.5%	28.3%
2047	24.2%	28.1%
2048	24%	27.9%
2049	23.7%	27.7%
2050	23.5%	27.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 32.1% of the population in Botswana and 37% in Namibia in 2024, compared to 45.1% and 42.3% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Botswana and Namibia compared.

Natural population change in Botswana vs Namibia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.88% in Botswana and +2.04% in Namibia. 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
	Botswana	Namibia
1960	15,861	14,307
1961	16,185	14,936
1962	16,507	15,656
1963	17,084	16,430
1964	17,634	17,134
1965	18,045	17,902
1966	18,250	18,635
1967	18,463	19,498
1968	18,725	20,470
1969	19,024	21,387
1970	19,438	22,414
1971	19,926	23,467
1972	21,004	24,606
1973	22,449	25,754
1974	24,160	26,844
1975	25,762	27,882
1976	27,497	28,785
1977	29,009	29,241
1978	30,596	29,821
1979	32,486	28,930
1980	33,934	28,142
1981	34,327	27,938
1982	34,859	27,474
1983	35,142	28,307
1984	35,530	29,395
1985	35,966	30,575
1986	36,203	31,764
1987	35,647	33,340
1988	34,564	34,798
1989	33,756	37,715
1990	33,015	43,956
1991	32,219	44,523
1992	31,995	43,945
1993	31,691	42,861
1994	30,664	41,316
1995	28,478	39,119
1996	26,847	37,177
1997	25,738	37,256
1998	25,397	37,500
1999	25,358	37,233
2000	25,850	35,280
2001	26,112	32,942
2002	26,163	31,947
2003	26,545	31,115
2004	27,481	31,478
2005	29,385	32,909
2006	31,340	34,690
2007	33,832	36,430
2008	35,433	38,147
2009	36,671	39,942
2010	38,101	42,046
2011	38,613	43,557
2012	39,202	46,204
2013	39,404	47,801
2014	40,046	49,581
2015	40,897	50,846
2016	41,993	52,228
2017	43,154	52,975
2018	44,171	53,970
2019	45,110	54,769
2020	45,610	55,034
2021	40,894	50,160
2022	47,400	54,534
2023	47,098	58,435

Maternal mortality chart: Botswana vs Namibia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 155 deaths per 100,000 live births in Botswana, compared to 139 deaths in Namibia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Botswana	Namibia
1985	313	354
1986	304	348
1987	302	336
1988	319	342
1989	300	306
1990	296	325
1991	283	337
1992	263	346
1993	230	354
1994	182	367
1995	148	369
1996	130	387
1997	123	383
1998	126	396
1999	131	371
2000	136	384
2001	138	376
2002	140	313
2003	142	290
2004	151	282
2005	166	344
2006	204	408
2007	201	489
2008	199	537
2009	213	547
2010	228	531
2011	269	498
2012	288	439
2013	221	402
2014	212	369
2015	141	307
2016	72	250
2017	46	213
2018	99	198
2019	100	175
2020	98	143
2021	165	254
2022	120	127
2023	155	139

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 3.96% in Botswana and 4.07% in Namibia. 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
	Botswana	Namibia
1960	16.8%	-
1961	16.3%	-
1962	15.8%	-
1963	15.3%	-
1964	14.9%	-
1965	14.5%	-
1966	14%	-
1967	13.6%	9.66%
1968	13.2%	9.64%
1969	12.8%	9.65%
1970	12.4%	9.65%
1971	11.9%	9.67%
1972	11.4%	9.68%
1973	10.9%	9.73%
1974	10.4%	9.79%
1975	9.88%	9.89%
1976	9.32%	10%
1977	8.77%	10.2%
1978	8.23%	10.3%
1979	7.74%	10.3%
1980	7.29%	10.3%
1981	6.86%	10.2%
1982	6.47%	9.93%
1983	6.12%	9.61%
1984	5.8%	9.22%
1985	5.5%	8.81%
1986	5.22%	8.43%
1987	5%	8.09%
1988	4.88%	7.81%
1989	4.87%	7.57%
1990	5.01%	7.39%
1991	5.29%	7.24%
1992	5.7%	7.14%
1993	6.2%	7.1%
1994	6.72%	7.13%
1995	6.74%	7.24%
1996	7.1%	7.39%
1997	7.37%	7.56%
1998	7.57%	7.7%
1999	7.91%	7.79%
2000	8.11%	7.79%
2001	8.12%	7.71%
2002	8%	7.61%
2003	7.85%	7.51%
2004	7.63%	7.41%
2005	7.03%	7.05%
2006	6.43%	6.49%
2007	6.16%	6.06%
2008	6.03%	5.64%
2009	5.78%	5.29%
2010	5.58%	5.08%
2011	5.68%	5.16%
2012	5.34%	5.51%
2013	5.1%	5.4%
2014	5.11%	5.31%
2015	4.98%	5.5%
2016	4.9%	5.42%
2017	4.65%	5.19%
2018	4.59%	5.01%
2019	4.5%	4.78%
2020	4.39%	4.57%
2021	4.2%	4.38%
2022	4.07%	4.2%
2023	3.96%	4.07%