Fertility & birth rates in Cameroon and Sierra Leone

Fertility rate in Cameroon vs Sierra Leone chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Cameroon was 4.32 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 Cameroon 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
	Cameroon	Sierra Leone
1960	5.73	6.18
1961	5.73	6.21
1962	5.73	6.22
1963	5.73	6.26
1964	5.74	6.29
1965	5.8	6.31
1966	5.85	6.35
1967	5.95	6.38
1968	6.04	6.39
1969	6.14	6.39
1970	6.2	6.41
1971	6.26	6.43
1972	6.29	6.45
1973	6.33	6.47
1974	6.36	6.53
1975	6.4	6.55
1976	6.45	6.55
1977	6.51	6.57
1978	6.55	6.59
1979	6.58	6.58
1980	6.61	6.56
1981	6.61	6.55
1982	6.59	6.56
1983	6.58	6.57
1984	6.56	6.59
1985	6.56	6.59
1986	6.57	6.6
1987	6.54	6.61
1988	6.48	6.59
1989	6.41	6.57
1990	6.36	6.57
1991	6.32	6.55
1992	6.26	6.56
1993	6.16	6.57
1994	6.04	6.56
1995	5.92	6.56
1996	5.8	6.55
1997	5.71	6.53
1998	5.66	6.5
1999	5.6	6.42
2000	5.51	6.36
2001	5.44	6.31
2002	5.44	6.23
2003	5.43	6.09
2004	5.44	5.92
2005	5.42	5.81
2006	5.37	5.74
2007	5.34	5.64
2008	5.29	5.56
2009	5.24	5.45
2010	5.15	5.33
2011	5.05	5.21
2012	4.98	5.06
2013	4.91	4.87
2014	4.84	4.7
2015	4.84	4.55
2016	4.84	4.47
2017	4.8	4.39
2018	4.74	4.29
2019	4.65	4.19
2020	4.56	4.08
2021	4.47	3.98
2022	4.4	3.88
2023	4.32	3.79
2024	4.26	3.7
2025	4.19	3.61
2026	4.12	3.53
2027	4.05	3.47
2028	4	3.37
2029	3.93	3.3
2030	3.88	3.23
2031	3.81	3.18
2032	3.76	3.12
2033	3.7	3.07
2034	3.65	3.02
2035	3.58	2.97
2036	3.55	2.92
2037	3.5	2.88
2038	3.44	2.84
2039	3.4	2.79
2040	3.35	2.76
2041	3.31	2.72
2042	3.25	2.68
2043	3.21	2.65
2044	3.17	2.62
2045	3.13	2.58
2046	3.09	2.55
2047	3.06	2.53
2048	3.02	2.5
2049	2.99	2.47
2050	2.96	2.45

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Cameroon	Sierra Leone
1960	39.5%	38.2%
1961	39.9%	38.3%
1962	40.2%	38.3%
1963	40.4%	38.5%
1964	40.7%	38.8%
1965	40.9%	39.1%
1966	41.1%	39.4%
1967	41.3%	39.6%
1968	41.6%	39.9%
1969	41.8%	40.1%
1970	42%	40.3%
1971	42.3%	40.6%
1972	42.5%	40.7%
1973	42.8%	40.9%
1974	43%	41.1%
1975	43.2%	41.3%
1976	43.5%	41.4%
1977	43.8%	41.6%
1978	44.1%	41.7%
1979	44.4%	41.8%
1980	44.5%	41.9%
1981	44.6%	42%
1982	45%	42.1%
1983	45.6%	42.2%
1984	45.7%	42.3%
1985	45.8%	42.5%
1986	45.9%	42.6%
1987	46%	42.7%
1988	46.1%	42.8%
1989	46.1%	42.9%
1990	46.2%	42.9%
1991	46.2%	43%
1992	46.2%	43.1%
1993	46.1%	43.2%
1994	46%	43.3%
1995	45.9%	43.4%
1996	45.7%	43.5%
1997	45.5%	43.5%
1998	45.3%	43.6%
1999	45.1%	43.7%
2000	44.9%	43.8%
2001	44.7%	43.9%
2002	44.5%	43.9%
2003	44.3%	43.9%
2004	44.2%	43.9%
2005	44.1%	43.8%
2006	44%	43.7%
2007	43.9%	43.6%
2008	43.8%	43.5%
2009	43.8%	43.4%
2010	43.7%	43.2%
2011	43.7%	43%
2012	43.6%	42.8%
2013	43.5%	42.5%
2014	43.4%	42.2%
2015	43.2%	41.8%
2016	43%	41.4%
2017	43%	41%
2018	42.9%	40.6%
2019	42.7%	40.2%
2020	42.5%	39.8%
2021	42.3%	39.4%
2022	42.1%	39%
2023	41.8%	38.5%
2024	41.4%	38.1%
2025	41.1%	37.7%
2026	40.8%	37.2%
2027	40.5%	36.8%
2028	40.1%	36.3%
2029	39.8%	35.9%
2030	39.5%	35.5%
2031	39.1%	35.2%
2032	38.7%	34.8%
2033	38.3%	34.4%
2034	37.9%	34%
2035	37.5%	33.6%
2036	37.2%	33.2%
2037	36.8%	32.8%
2038	36.5%	32.4%
2039	36.2%	32%
2040	35.9%	31.6%
2041	35.6%	31.2%
2042	35.3%	30.9%
2043	35%	30.5%
2044	34.7%	30.2%
2045	34.4%	29.8%
2046	34.1%	29.5%
2047	33.8%	29.2%
2048	33.5%	28.8%
2049	33.2%	28.5%
2050	32.9%	28.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 41.4% of the population in Cameroon and 38.1% in Sierra Leone in 2024, compared to 46.2% and 42.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Cameroon and Sierra Leone compared.

Natural population change in Cameroon vs Sierra Leone by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.78% in Cameroon 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
	Cameroon	Sierra Leone
1960	77,948	38,192
1961	82,471	40,022
1962	116,232	41,603
1963	119,784	43,569
1964	123,469	45,487
1965	129,428	47,223
1966	135,927	49,486
1967	144,370	51,734
1968	153,080	53,126
1969	162,603	54,768
1970	170,713	56,513
1971	179,317	58,484
1972	186,521	60,279
1973	193,997	62,443
1974	200,693	65,357
1975	206,986	67,560
1976	214,916	69,506
1977	222,785	71,663
1978	229,958	74,130
1979	238,875	75,992
1980	247,808	77,932
1981	262,076	80,111
1982	274,652	82,457
1983	276,112	84,628
1984	284,110	87,072
1985	296,317	88,869
1986	308,188	90,902
1987	320,134	94,235
1988	328,168	96,344
1989	334,649	98,298
1990	342,901	100,778
1991	350,493	105,477
1992	356,072	103,251
1993	360,785	103,317
1994	364,390	101,486
1995	367,532	100,885
1996	370,355	104,140
1997	377,138	105,433
1998	388,432	103,906
1999	401,969	102,295
2000	411,633	110,754
2001	422,511	116,647
2002	439,544	126,429
2003	459,422	130,312
2004	478,880	132,661
2005	496,547	137,234
2006	511,366	144,127
2007	526,949	145,740
2008	542,919	149,855
2009	557,841	152,669
2010	569,921	155,338
2011	580,607	158,858
2012	594,029	160,915
2013	606,072	161,265
2014	619,243	160,137
2015	649,190	162,275
2016	677,051	168,784
2017	696,496	173,259
2018	706,188	178,772
2019	714,681	181,068
2020	716,361	181,015
2021	713,806	183,326
2022	734,893	186,625
2023	754,486	188,788

Maternal mortality chart: Cameroon vs Sierra Leone

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 258 deaths per 100,000 live births in Cameroon, compared to 354 deaths in Sierra Leone.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Cameroon	Sierra Leone
1985	572	1,506
1986	579	1,530
1987	557	1,533
1988	559	1,549
1989	564	1,575
1990	570	1,572
1991	584	1,699
1992	595	1,681
1993	606	1,696
1994	628	1,755
1995	641	1,777
1996	648	1,726
1997	652	1,721
1998	666	1,753
1999	672	1,731
2000	678	1,603
2001	672	1,518
2002	658	1,492
2003	645	1,433
2004	633	1,366
2005	629	1,294
2006	615	1,168
2007	605	1,132
2008	592	1,093
2009	579	1,054
2010	562	1,018
2011	541	967
2012	500	915
2013	469	842
2014	440	821
2015	417	730
2016	393	633
2017	372	578
2018	354	491
2019	336	464
2020	316	422
2021	342	403
2022	276	370
2023	258	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 6.72% in Cameroon 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
	Cameroon	Sierra Leone
1960	28%	39.1%
1961	27.4%	38.5%
1962	26.9%	38%
1963	26.4%	37.4%
1964	26%	36.8%
1965	25.4%	36.2%
1966	24.7%	35.6%
1967	24%	35%
1968	23.1%	34.5%
1969	22.2%	33.9%
1970	21.3%	33.4%
1971	20.6%	32.9%
1972	20%	32.3%
1973	19.6%	31.9%
1974	19.3%	31.4%
1975	19.2%	30.9%
1976	19%	30.5%
1977	18.9%	30%
1978	18.7%	29.6%
1979	18.3%	29.2%
1980	17.9%	28.9%
1981	17.4%	28.5%
1982	16.8%	28.1%
1983	16.2%	27.8%
1984	15.5%	27.5%
1985	14.9%	27.2%
1986	14.4%	26.9%
1987	14%	26.6%
1988	13.8%	26.4%
1989	13.6%	26.2%
1990	13.7%	25.9%
1991	13.8%	25.7%
1992	14%	25.5%
1993	14.3%	25.3%
1994	14.5%	25%
1995	14.7%	24.7%
1996	14.8%	24.3%
1997	14.9%	23.9%
1998	14.8%	23.4%
1999	14.7%	22.9%
2000	14.4%	22.4%
2001	14.1%	21.8%
2002	13.8%	21.3%
2003	13.5%	20.7%
2004	13.1%	20.1%
2005	12.8%	19.4%
2006	12.5%	18.8%
2007	12.1%	18.1%
2008	11.8%	17.3%
2009	11.4%	16.6%
2010	11%	15.9%
2011	10.6%	15.2%
2012	10.2%	14.5%
2013	9.73%	13.9%
2014	9.31%	13.7%
2015	8.9%	13.8%
2016	8.56%	12.3%
2017	8.25%	11.8%
2018	7.97%	11.3%
2019	7.72%	10.9%
2020	7.46%	10.5%
2021	7.21%	10.1%
2022	6.95%	9.77%
2023	6.72%	9.43%