Fertility & birth rates in Bulgaria and Gambia

Fertility rate in Bulgaria vs Gambia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Bulgaria was 1.81 children per woman in 2023, compared to 4.01 in the Gambia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Bulgaria vs the Gambia population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Bulgaria	Gambia
1960	2.31	6.25
1961	2.29	6.23
1962	2.24	6.21
1963	2.21	6.2
1964	2.19	6.2
1965	2.09	6.19
1966	2.03	6.18
1967	2.02	6.21
1968	2.27	6.22
1969	2.27	6.25
1970	2.17	6.26
1971	2.1	6.33
1972	2.03	6.37
1973	2.15	6.41
1974	2.29	6.42
1975	2.23	6.43
1976	2.24	6.43
1977	2.21	6.43
1978	2.15	6.42
1979	2.16	6.41
1980	2.05	6.41
1981	2	6.4
1982	2.01	6.4
1983	2.01	6.39
1984	2.01	6.39
1985	1.97	6.36
1986	2.02	6.34
1987	1.96	6.3
1988	1.97	6.26
1989	1.9	6.25
1990	1.82	6.25
1991	1.66	6.19
1992	1.55	6.11
1993	1.46	6.03
1994	1.37	6.04
1995	1.23	5.99
1996	1.23	5.93
1997	1.09	5.85
1998	1.11	5.82
1999	1.23	5.77
2000	1.26	5.72
2001	1.21	5.67
2002	1.23	5.66
2003	1.26	5.66
2004	1.33	5.68
2005	1.37	5.71
2006	1.44	5.74
2007	1.49	5.69
2008	1.56	5.63
2009	1.66	5.57
2010	1.57	5.56
2011	1.51	5.54
2012	1.5	5.52
2013	1.54	5.39
2014	1.62	5.2
2015	1.64	5
2016	1.67	4.81
2017	1.71	4.61
2018	1.73	4.42
2019	1.79	4.33
2020	1.77	4.25
2021	1.8	4.17
2022	1.78	4.08
2023	1.81	4.01
2024	1.81	3.91
2025	1.8	3.8
2026	1.8	3.7
2027	1.8	3.6
2028	1.8	3.51
2029	1.79	3.41
2030	1.79	3.33
2031	1.79	3.24
2032	1.79	3.17
2033	1.79	3.1
2034	1.79	3.03
2035	1.78	2.97
2036	1.78	2.91
2037	1.78	2.86
2038	1.77	2.81
2039	1.77	2.76
2040	1.77	2.71
2041	1.77	2.67
2042	1.77	2.63
2043	1.76	2.59
2044	1.76	2.56
2045	1.76	2.52
2046	1.76	2.49
2047	1.76	2.46
2048	1.76	2.43
2049	1.76	2.4
2050	1.76	2.38

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Bulgaria	Gambia
1960	26.1%	41%
1961	25.8%	40.8%
1962	25.4%	40.7%
1963	25.1%	40.8%
1964	24.7%	41%
1965	24.2%	41.3%
1966	23.8%	41.5%
1967	23.4%	41.6%
1968	23.2%	41.8%
1969	23%	41.9%
1970	22.8%	42%
1971	22.6%	42.1%
1972	22.4%	42.2%
1973	22.3%	42.3%
1974	22.2%	42.4%
1975	22.3%	42.6%
1976	22.3%	42.8%
1977	22.2%	43%
1978	22.2%	43.3%
1979	22.1%	43.5%
1980	22.1%	43.7%
1981	22.1%	44%
1982	22.1%	44.3%
1983	22%	44.6%
1984	21.8%	44.9%
1985	21.6%	45%
1986	21.4%	45.2%
1987	21.3%	45.4%
1988	21.1%	45.5%
1989	20.8%	45.6%
1990	20.3%	45.7%
1991	19.8%	45.8%
1992	19.3%	45.9%
1993	18.8%	46%
1994	18.3%	46.3%
1995	17.9%	46.5%
1996	17.4%	46.7%
1997	17%	46.9%
1998	16.5%	46.9%
1999	16.1%	46.9%
2000	15.7%	46.8%
2001	15.2%	46.7%
2002	14.8%	46.6%
2003	14.4%	46.4%
2004	14%	46.1%
2005	13.7%	45.9%
2006	13.5%	45.6%
2007	13.4%	45.3%
2008	13.3%	45.1%
2009	13.4%	44.8%
2010	13.5%	44.5%
2011	13.5%	44.3%
2012	13.6%	44.1%
2013	13.7%	43.9%
2014	13.8%	43.7%
2015	13.9%	43.6%
2016	14%	43.3%
2017	14.2%	43.1%
2018	14.3%	42.8%
2019	14.4%	42.4%
2020	14.4%	42%
2021	14.5%	41.6%
2022	14.5%	41.2%
2023	14.5%	40.7%
2024	14.5%	40.2%
2025	14.4%	39.7%
2026	14.3%	39.2%
2027	14.3%	38.5%
2028	14.2%	37.9%
2029	14.1%	37.3%
2030	14%	36.7%
2031	14%	36.2%
2032	13.9%	35.7%
2033	13.8%	35.2%
2034	13.8%	34.8%
2035	13.7%	34.3%
2036	13.7%	33.9%
2037	13.7%	33.4%
2038	13.6%	33%
2039	13.6%	32.5%
2040	13.6%	32.1%
2041	13.6%	31.7%
2042	13.6%	31.3%
2043	13.6%	30.9%
2044	13.6%	30.5%
2045	13.6%	30.2%
2046	13.7%	29.8%
2047	13.7%	29.5%
2048	13.7%	29.1%
2049	13.8%	28.8%
2050	13.8%	28.4%

Children aged 0-14 make up 14.5% of the population in Bulgaria and 40.2% in the Gambia in 2024, compared to 20.3% and 45.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Bulgaria and the Gambia compared.

Natural population change in Bulgaria vs Gambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.79% in Bulgaria and +2.59% in the Gambia. 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
	Bulgaria	Gambia
1960	76,314	8,420
1961	75,460	8,778
1962	64,104	9,150
1963	66,241	9,493
1964	66,783	9,825
1965	58,249	10,162
1966	54,504	10,422
1967	49,861	10,823
1968	69,468	11,215
1969	63,256	11,670
1970	61,125	12,128
1971	52,925	12,842
1972	47,169	13,432
1973	57,760	14,046
1974	64,223	14,628
1975	54,941	15,256
1976	56,055	16,032
1977	47,543	16,773
1978	44,070	17,424
1979	40,599	18,543
1980	30,129	19,566
1981	29,341	20,156
1982	24,077	21,894
1983	21,455	23,175
1984	20,610	24,586
1985	11,649	25,795
1986	16,125	27,195
1987	8,971	28,452
1988	9,879	29,938
1989	5,326	31,504
1990	-3,487	33,163
1991	-14,675	34,584
1992	-18,789	35,951
1993	-24,569	37,302
1994	-32,086	38,880
1995	-42,030	39,681
1996	-45,159	40,253
1997	-58,185	40,742
1998	-52,844	41,842
1999	-39,411	42,533
2000	-41,668	43,249
2001	-44,050	44,154
2002	-46,240	45,156
2003	-44,319	46,473
2004	-40,128	48,276
2005	-42,124	50,010
2006	-39,526	52,335
2007	-37,727	53,653
2008	-32,967	55,032
2009	-26,800	56,575
2010	-34,759	58,554
2011	-37,477	60,571
2012	-40,183	62,745
2013	-37,948	63,510
2014	-41,027	63,185
2015	-44,699	62,832
2016	-42,744	62,358
2017	-45,583	61,665
2018	-46,304	60,854
2019	-46,317	61,701
2020	-65,507	62,209
2021	-90,452	62,239
2022	-62,065	63,634
2023	-43,837	65,118

Maternal mortality chart: Bulgaria vs Gambia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 6 deaths per 100,000 live births in Bulgaria, compared to 354 deaths in the Gambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Bulgaria	Gambia
1985	26	1,454
1986	25	1,401
1987	25	1,360
1988	26	1,302
1989	25	1,258
1990	27	1,207
1991	25	1,167
1992	25	1,115
1993	23	1,072
1994	25	1,039
1995	23	999
1996	22	956
1997	23	928
1998	20	867
1999	20	830
2000	19	810
2001	17	794
2002	15	772
2003	14	749
2004	14	719
2005	13	707
2006	12	682
2007	11	675
2008	10	653
2009	9	634
2010	9	632
2011	8	634
2012	7	628
2013	7	606
2014	7	561
2015	7	527
2016	7	490
2017	7	469
2018	7	450
2019	6	422
2020	9	400
2021	9	420
2022	10	365
2023	6	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.61% in Bulgaria and 4.41% in the Gambia. 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
	Bulgaria	Gambia
1960	5.47%	36.2%
1961	4.89%	35.5%
1962	4.43%	34.8%
1963	4.08%	34.1%
1964	3.86%	33.5%
1965	3.75%	32.8%
1966	3.7%	32.1%
1967	3.64%	31.5%
1968	3.54%	30.9%
1969	3.4%	30.2%
1970	3.25%	29.5%
1971	3.11%	28.9%
1972	3.01%	28.2%
1973	2.95%	27.5%
1974	2.91%	26.9%
1975	2.86%	26.2%
1976	2.8%	25.5%
1977	2.72%	24.9%
1978	2.6%	24.2%
1979	2.49%	23.6%
1980	2.38%	23%
1981	2.3%	22.3%
1982	2.22%	21.7%
1983	2.15%	21%
1984	2.07%	20.4%
1985	1.97%	19.7%
1986	1.87%	19.1%
1987	1.8%	18.4%
1988	1.78%	17.8%
1989	1.79%	17.2%
1990	1.83%	16.6%
1991	1.89%	16%
1992	1.92%	15.5%
1993	1.92%	14.9%
1994	1.91%	14.4%
1995	1.92%	13.9%
1996	1.94%	13.3%
1997	1.93%	12.8%
1998	1.89%	12.3%
1999	1.82%	11.8%
2000	1.75%	11.3%
2001	1.68%	10.9%
2002	1.6%	10.4%
2003	1.51%	9.95%
2004	1.42%	9.52%
2005	1.33%	9.11%
2006	1.24%	8.71%
2007	1.18%	8.33%
2008	1.14%	7.98%
2009	1.12%	7.64%
2010	1.08%	7.31%
2011	1.04%	7.01%
2012	0.99%	6.73%
2013	0.93%	6.45%
2014	0.87%	6.18%
2015	0.82%	5.93%
2016	0.77%	5.7%
2017	0.73%	5.47%
2018	0.7%	5.27%
2019	0.67%	5.07%
2020	0.65%	4.89%
2021	0.63%	4.72%
2022	0.62%	4.56%
2023	0.61%	4.41%