Fertility & birth rates in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone

Fertility rate in Burkina Faso vs Sierra Leone chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Burkina Faso was 4.19 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 Burkina Faso 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
	Burkina Faso	Sierra Leone
1960	6.25	6.18
1961	6.29	6.21
1962	6.32	6.22
1963	6.36	6.26
1964	6.42	6.29
1965	6.47	6.31
1966	6.53	6.35
1967	6.59	6.38
1968	6.65	6.39
1969	6.66	6.39
1970	6.69	6.41
1971	6.7	6.43
1972	6.72	6.45
1973	6.77	6.47
1974	6.84	6.53
1975	6.91	6.55
1976	6.95	6.55
1977	7.05	6.57
1978	7.15	6.59
1979	7.19	6.58
1980	7.22	6.56
1981	7.26	6.55
1982	7.25	6.56
1983	7.25	6.57
1984	7.25	6.59
1985	7.24	6.59
1986	7.22	6.6
1987	7.17	6.61
1988	7.11	6.59
1989	7.05	6.57
1990	7.01	6.57
1991	6.97	6.55
1992	6.94	6.56
1993	6.89	6.57
1994	6.84	6.56
1995	6.81	6.56
1996	6.78	6.55
1997	6.72	6.53
1998	6.66	6.5
1999	6.59	6.42
2000	6.52	6.36
2001	6.43	6.31
2002	6.34	6.23
2003	6.28	6.09
2004	6.22	5.92
2005	6.18	5.81
2006	6.17	5.74
2007	6.11	5.64
2008	6.05	5.56
2009	5.99	5.45
2010	5.94	5.33
2011	5.87	5.21
2012	5.79	5.06
2013	5.7	4.87
2014	5.6	4.7
2015	5.48	4.55
2016	5.33	4.47
2017	5.17	4.39
2018	4.92	4.29
2019	4.68	4.19
2020	4.44	4.08
2021	4.36	3.98
2022	4.28	3.88
2023	4.19	3.79
2024	4.11	3.7
2025	4	3.61
2026	3.91	3.53
2027	3.82	3.47
2028	3.73	3.37
2029	3.64	3.3
2030	3.57	3.23
2031	3.5	3.18
2032	3.43	3.12
2033	3.38	3.07
2034	3.31	3.02
2035	3.24	2.97
2036	3.17	2.92
2037	3.11	2.88
2038	3.05	2.84
2039	3.01	2.79
2040	2.96	2.76
2041	2.92	2.72
2042	2.88	2.68
2043	2.84	2.65
2044	2.81	2.62
2045	2.77	2.58
2046	2.73	2.55
2047	2.7	2.53
2048	2.67	2.5
2049	2.64	2.47
2050	2.61	2.45

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Burkina Faso	Sierra Leone
1960	39.9%	38.2%
1961	39.9%	38.3%
1962	39.9%	38.3%
1963	40.2%	38.5%
1964	40.5%	38.8%
1965	40.9%	39.1%
1966	41.2%	39.4%
1967	41.5%	39.6%
1968	41.8%	39.9%
1969	42.1%	40.1%
1970	42.4%	40.3%
1971	42.6%	40.6%
1972	42.9%	40.7%
1973	43.1%	40.9%
1974	43.4%	41.1%
1975	43.6%	41.3%
1976	43.8%	41.4%
1977	44%	41.6%
1978	44.2%	41.7%
1979	44.5%	41.8%
1980	44.7%	41.9%
1981	44.9%	42%
1982	45.2%	42.1%
1983	45.4%	42.2%
1984	45.6%	42.3%
1985	45.8%	42.5%
1986	46.1%	42.6%
1987	46.3%	42.7%
1988	46.6%	42.8%
1989	46.8%	42.9%
1990	46.9%	42.9%
1991	47.1%	43%
1992	47.3%	43.1%
1993	47.3%	43.2%
1994	47.3%	43.3%
1995	47.3%	43.4%
1996	47.2%	43.5%
1997	47.2%	43.5%
1998	47%	43.6%
1999	46.8%	43.7%
2000	46.6%	43.8%
2001	46.3%	43.9%
2002	46%	43.9%
2003	45.8%	43.9%
2004	45.6%	43.9%
2005	45.5%	43.8%
2006	45.4%	43.7%
2007	45.4%	43.6%
2008	45.4%	43.5%
2009	45.5%	43.4%
2010	45.6%	43.2%
2011	45.6%	43%
2012	45.6%	42.8%
2013	45.6%	42.5%
2014	45.6%	42.2%
2015	45.5%	41.8%
2016	45.3%	41.4%
2017	45.1%	41%
2018	44.9%	40.6%
2019	44.5%	40.2%
2020	44%	39.8%
2021	43.5%	39.4%
2022	43%	39%
2023	42.4%	38.5%
2024	41.8%	38.1%
2025	41.2%	37.7%
2026	40.5%	37.2%
2027	39.9%	36.8%
2028	39.2%	36.3%
2029	38.5%	35.9%
2030	37.9%	35.5%
2031	37.2%	35.2%
2032	36.7%	34.8%
2033	36.1%	34.4%
2034	35.7%	34%
2035	35.4%	33.6%
2036	35%	33.2%
2037	34.7%	32.8%
2038	34.4%	32.4%
2039	34%	32%
2040	33.7%	31.6%
2041	33.4%	31.2%
2042	33%	30.9%
2043	32.7%	30.5%
2044	32.4%	30.2%
2045	32.1%	29.8%
2046	31.7%	29.5%
2047	31.4%	29.2%
2048	31%	28.8%
2049	30.6%	28.5%
2050	30.3%	28.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 41.8% of the population in Burkina Faso and 38.1% in Sierra Leone in 2024, compared to 46.9% and 42.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone compared.

Natural population change in Burkina Faso vs Sierra Leone by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.68% in Burkina Faso 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
	Burkina Faso	Sierra Leone
1960	92,055	38,192
1961	95,059	40,022
1962	98,561	41,603
1963	101,760	43,569
1964	105,741	45,487
1965	109,544	47,223
1966	113,344	49,486
1967	117,223	51,734
1968	121,264	53,126
1969	123,666	54,768
1970	127,814	56,513
1971	130,924	58,484
1972	135,756	60,279
1973	141,751	62,443
1974	149,231	65,357
1975	157,174	67,560
1976	165,224	69,506
1977	175,672	71,663
1978	187,019	74,130
1979	196,647	75,992
1980	205,248	77,932
1981	212,623	80,111
1982	220,896	82,457
1983	228,467	84,628
1984	237,838	87,072
1985	246,574	88,869
1986	252,922	90,902
1987	257,730	94,235
1988	262,065	96,344
1989	267,314	98,298
1990	273,846	100,778
1991	280,111	105,477
1992	284,622	103,251
1993	289,044	103,317
1994	296,465	101,486
1995	305,878	100,885
1996	315,820	104,140
1997	322,253	105,433
1998	333,196	103,906
1999	342,630	102,295
2000	356,657	110,754
2001	367,731	116,647
2002	377,333	126,429
2003	394,516	130,312
2004	408,567	132,661
2005	427,243	137,234
2006	450,357	144,127
2007	467,277	145,740
2008	485,223	149,855
2009	499,596	152,669
2010	515,480	155,338
2011	530,765	158,858
2012	544,293	160,915
2013	556,096	161,265
2014	563,218	160,137
2015	570,554	162,275
2016	571,519	168,784
2017	569,975	173,259
2018	556,493	178,772
2019	540,001	181,068
2020	524,359	181,015
2021	527,468	183,326
2022	538,146	186,625
2023	545,227	188,788

Maternal mortality chart: Burkina Faso vs Sierra Leone

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 242 deaths per 100,000 live births in Burkina Faso, compared to 354 deaths in Sierra Leone.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Burkina Faso	Sierra Leone
1985	850	1,506
1986	834	1,530
1987	820	1,533
1988	806	1,549
1989	787	1,575
1990	759	1,572
1991	732	1,699
1992	703	1,681
1993	677	1,696
1994	651	1,755
1995	629	1,777
1996	605	1,726
1997	610	1,721
1998	567	1,753
1999	547	1,731
2000	524	1,603
2001	513	1,518
2002	508	1,492
2003	495	1,433
2004	481	1,366
2005	467	1,294
2006	463	1,168
2007	453	1,132
2008	429	1,093
2009	419	1,054
2010	404	1,018
2011	388	967
2012	376	915
2013	361	842
2014	344	821
2015	328	730
2016	313	633
2017	298	578
2018	286	491
2019	274	464
2020	334	422
2021	354	403
2022	316	370
2023	242	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 7.73% in Burkina Faso 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
	Burkina Faso	Sierra Leone
1960	34.5%	39.1%
1961	34.1%	38.5%
1962	33.7%	38%
1963	33.4%	37.4%
1964	33.1%	36.8%
1965	32.8%	36.2%
1966	32.5%	35.6%
1967	32.2%	35%
1968	32%	34.5%
1969	31.8%	33.9%
1970	31.5%	33.4%
1971	31.2%	32.9%
1972	30.7%	32.3%
1973	30.1%	31.9%
1974	29.3%	31.4%
1975	28.4%	30.9%
1976	27.3%	30.5%
1977	26.3%	30%
1978	25.4%	29.6%
1979	24.6%	29.2%
1980	23.9%	28.9%
1981	23.3%	28.5%
1982	22.8%	28.1%
1983	22.3%	27.8%
1984	21.9%	27.5%
1985	21.4%	27.2%
1986	21%	26.9%
1987	20.6%	26.6%
1988	20.2%	26.4%
1989	20%	26.2%
1990	19.8%	25.9%
1991	19.8%	25.7%
1992	19.7%	25.5%
1993	19.7%	25.3%
1994	19.6%	25%
1995	19.4%	24.7%
1996	19.2%	24.3%
1997	18.9%	23.9%
1998	18.5%	23.4%
1999	18.2%	22.9%
2000	17.8%	22.4%
2001	17.4%	21.8%
2002	16.9%	21.3%
2003	16.4%	20.7%
2004	15.9%	20.1%
2005	15.2%	19.4%
2006	14.6%	18.8%
2007	13.9%	18.1%
2008	13.3%	17.3%
2009	12.7%	16.6%
2010	12.2%	15.9%
2011	11.7%	15.2%
2012	11.3%	14.5%
2013	10.9%	13.9%
2014	10.5%	13.7%
2015	10.1%	13.8%
2016	9.77%	12.3%
2017	9.43%	11.8%
2018	9.12%	11.3%
2019	8.82%	10.9%
2020	8.53%	10.5%
2021	8.25%	10.1%
2022	7.99%	9.77%
2023	7.73%	9.43%