Fertility & birth rates in Botswana and Sierra Leone

Fertility rate in Botswana vs Sierra Leone 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 3.79 in Sierra Leone in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Botswana vs Sierra Leone 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	Sierra Leone
1960	6.6	6.18
1961	6.56	6.21
1962	6.54	6.22
1963	6.58	6.26
1964	6.61	6.29
1965	6.6	6.31
1966	6.61	6.35
1967	6.6	6.38
1968	6.58	6.39
1969	6.56	6.39
1970	6.55	6.41
1971	6.54	6.43
1972	6.56	6.45
1973	6.59	6.47
1974	6.61	6.53
1975	6.61	6.55
1976	6.6	6.55
1977	6.54	6.57
1978	6.48	6.59
1979	6.4	6.58
1980	6.29	6.56
1981	6.16	6.55
1982	5.97	6.56
1983	5.79	6.57
1984	5.63	6.59
1985	5.48	6.59
1986	5.33	6.6
1987	5.1	6.61
1988	4.88	6.59
1989	4.67	6.57
1990	4.51	6.57
1991	4.37	6.55
1992	4.26	6.56
1993	4.15	6.57
1994	4.02	6.56
1995	3.79	6.56
1996	3.57	6.55
1997	3.43	6.53
1998	3.36	6.5
1999	3.31	6.42
2000	3.29	6.36
2001	3.25	6.31
2002	3.18	6.23
2003	3.11	6.09
2004	3.06	5.92
2005	3.08	5.81
2006	3.11	5.74
2007	3.13	5.64
2008	3.13	5.56
2009	3.13	5.45
2010	3.14	5.33
2011	3.1	5.21
2012	3.07	5.06
2013	3.05	4.87
2014	3.03	4.7
2015	3.01	4.55
2016	2.99	4.47
2017	2.97	4.39
2018	2.94	4.29
2019	2.91	4.19
2020	2.86	4.08
2021	2.83	3.98
2022	2.79	3.88
2023	2.73	3.79
2024	2.7	3.7
2025	2.66	3.61
2026	2.63	3.53
2027	2.59	3.47
2028	2.56	3.37
2029	2.52	3.3
2030	2.49	3.23
2031	2.46	3.18
2032	2.44	3.12
2033	2.41	3.07
2034	2.38	3.02
2035	2.35	2.97
2036	2.32	2.92
2037	2.3	2.88
2038	2.28	2.84
2039	2.26	2.79
2040	2.23	2.76
2041	2.21	2.72
2042	2.2	2.68
2043	2.18	2.65
2044	2.17	2.62
2045	2.15	2.58
2046	2.14	2.55
2047	2.12	2.53
2048	2.11	2.5
2049	2.09	2.47
2050	2.08	2.45

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Botswana	Sierra Leone
1960	45.1%	38.2%
1961	45.6%	38.3%
1962	46.2%	38.3%
1963	46.8%	38.5%
1964	47.2%	38.8%
1965	47.5%	39.1%
1966	47.9%	39.4%
1967	48.2%	39.6%
1968	48.6%	39.9%
1969	48.9%	40.1%
1970	49.2%	40.3%
1971	49.3%	40.6%
1972	49.1%	40.7%
1973	48.6%	40.9%
1974	48.2%	41.1%
1975	47.7%	41.3%
1976	47.3%	41.4%
1977	47%	41.6%
1978	46.5%	41.7%
1979	46%	41.8%
1980	46.1%	41.9%
1981	46.2%	42%
1982	46.2%	42.1%
1983	46.2%	42.2%
1984	46.2%	42.3%
1985	46.2%	42.5%
1986	46.1%	42.6%
1987	46%	42.7%
1988	45.8%	42.8%
1989	45.5%	42.9%
1990	45.1%	42.9%
1991	44.7%	43%
1992	44.2%	43.1%
1993	43.7%	43.2%
1994	43%	43.3%
1995	42.2%	43.4%
1996	41.4%	43.5%
1997	40.6%	43.5%
1998	39.8%	43.6%
1999	39.1%	43.7%
2000	38.4%	43.8%
2001	37.7%	43.9%
2002	37.1%	43.9%
2003	36.5%	43.9%
2004	35.9%	43.9%
2005	35.5%	43.8%
2006	35.1%	43.7%
2007	34.8%	43.6%
2008	34.5%	43.5%
2009	34.2%	43.4%
2010	34.1%	43.2%
2011	34%	43%
2012	34.2%	42.8%
2013	34.4%	42.5%
2014	34.4%	42.2%
2015	34.4%	41.8%
2016	34.2%	41.4%
2017	33.9%	41%
2018	33.6%	40.6%
2019	33.3%	40.2%
2020	32.9%	39.8%
2021	32.6%	39.4%
2022	32.4%	39%
2023	32.3%	38.5%
2024	32.1%	38.1%
2025	32%	37.7%
2026	31.8%	37.2%
2027	31.6%	36.8%
2028	31.4%	36.3%
2029	31.2%	35.9%
2030	30.9%	35.5%
2031	30.6%	35.2%
2032	30.3%	34.8%
2033	30%	34.4%
2034	29.6%	34%
2035	29.2%	33.6%
2036	28.7%	33.2%
2037	28.1%	32.8%
2038	27.6%	32.4%
2039	27.2%	32%
2040	26.7%	31.6%
2041	26.3%	31.2%
2042	25.9%	30.9%
2043	25.5%	30.5%
2044	25.2%	30.2%
2045	24.8%	29.8%
2046	24.5%	29.5%
2047	24.2%	29.2%
2048	24%	28.8%
2049	23.7%	28.5%
2050	23.5%	28.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 32.1% of the population in Botswana and 38.1% in Sierra Leone in 2024, compared to 45.1% and 42.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Botswana and Sierra Leone compared.

Natural population change in Botswana vs Sierra Leone by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.88% in Botswana and +2.31% in Sierra Leone. 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	Sierra Leone
1960	15,861	38,192
1961	16,185	40,022
1962	16,507	41,603
1963	17,084	43,569
1964	17,634	45,487
1965	18,045	47,223
1966	18,250	49,486
1967	18,463	51,734
1968	18,725	53,126
1969	19,024	54,768
1970	19,438	56,513
1971	19,926	58,484
1972	21,004	60,279
1973	22,449	62,443
1974	24,160	65,357
1975	25,762	67,560
1976	27,497	69,506
1977	29,009	71,663
1978	30,596	74,130
1979	32,486	75,992
1980	33,934	77,932
1981	34,327	80,111
1982	34,859	82,457
1983	35,142	84,628
1984	35,530	87,072
1985	35,966	88,869
1986	36,203	90,902
1987	35,647	94,235
1988	34,564	96,344
1989	33,756	98,298
1990	33,015	100,778
1991	32,219	105,477
1992	31,995	103,251
1993	31,691	103,317
1994	30,664	101,486
1995	28,478	100,885
1996	26,847	104,140
1997	25,738	105,433
1998	25,397	103,906
1999	25,358	102,295
2000	25,850	110,754
2001	26,112	116,647
2002	26,163	126,429
2003	26,545	130,312
2004	27,481	132,661
2005	29,385	137,234
2006	31,340	144,127
2007	33,832	145,740
2008	35,433	149,855
2009	36,671	152,669
2010	38,101	155,338
2011	38,613	158,858
2012	39,202	160,915
2013	39,404	161,265
2014	40,046	160,137
2015	40,897	162,275
2016	41,993	168,784
2017	43,154	173,259
2018	44,171	178,772
2019	45,110	181,068
2020	45,610	181,015
2021	40,894	183,326
2022	47,400	186,625
2023	47,098	188,788

Maternal mortality chart: Botswana vs Sierra Leone

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 354 deaths in Sierra Leone.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Botswana	Sierra Leone
1985	313	1,506
1986	304	1,530
1987	302	1,533
1988	319	1,549
1989	300	1,575
1990	296	1,572
1991	283	1,699
1992	263	1,681
1993	230	1,696
1994	182	1,755
1995	148	1,777
1996	130	1,726
1997	123	1,721
1998	126	1,753
1999	131	1,731
2000	136	1,603
2001	138	1,518
2002	140	1,492
2003	142	1,433
2004	151	1,366
2005	166	1,294
2006	204	1,168
2007	201	1,132
2008	199	1,093
2009	213	1,054
2010	228	1,018
2011	269	967
2012	288	915
2013	221	842
2014	212	821
2015	141	730
2016	72	633
2017	46	578
2018	99	491
2019	100	464
2020	98	422
2021	165	403
2022	120	370
2023	155	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 3.96% in Botswana and 9.43% in Sierra Leone. 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	Sierra Leone
1960	16.8%	39.1%
1961	16.3%	38.5%
1962	15.8%	38%
1963	15.3%	37.4%
1964	14.9%	36.8%
1965	14.5%	36.2%
1966	14%	35.6%
1967	13.6%	35%
1968	13.2%	34.5%
1969	12.8%	33.9%
1970	12.4%	33.4%
1971	11.9%	32.9%
1972	11.4%	32.3%
1973	10.9%	31.9%
1974	10.4%	31.4%
1975	9.88%	30.9%
1976	9.32%	30.5%
1977	8.77%	30%
1978	8.23%	29.6%
1979	7.74%	29.2%
1980	7.29%	28.9%
1981	6.86%	28.5%
1982	6.47%	28.1%
1983	6.12%	27.8%
1984	5.8%	27.5%
1985	5.5%	27.2%
1986	5.22%	26.9%
1987	5%	26.6%
1988	4.88%	26.4%
1989	4.87%	26.2%
1990	5.01%	25.9%
1991	5.29%	25.7%
1992	5.7%	25.5%
1993	6.2%	25.3%
1994	6.72%	25%
1995	6.74%	24.7%
1996	7.1%	24.3%
1997	7.37%	23.9%
1998	7.57%	23.4%
1999	7.91%	22.9%
2000	8.11%	22.4%
2001	8.12%	21.8%
2002	8%	21.3%
2003	7.85%	20.7%
2004	7.63%	20.1%
2005	7.03%	19.4%
2006	6.43%	18.8%
2007	6.16%	18.1%
2008	6.03%	17.3%
2009	5.78%	16.6%
2010	5.58%	15.9%
2011	5.68%	15.2%
2012	5.34%	14.5%
2013	5.1%	13.9%
2014	5.11%	13.7%
2015	4.98%	13.8%
2016	4.9%	12.3%
2017	4.65%	11.8%
2018	4.59%	11.3%
2019	4.5%	10.9%
2020	4.39%	10.5%
2021	4.2%	10.1%
2022	4.07%	9.77%
2023	3.96%	9.43%