Fertility & birth rates in Cape Verde and Sierra Leone

Fertility rate in Cape Verde vs Sierra Leone chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Cape Verde was 1.52 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 Cape Verde 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
	Cape Verde	Sierra Leone
1960	6.89	6.18
1961	6.92	6.21
1962	6.95	6.22
1963	6.98	6.26
1964	6.99	6.29
1965	6.99	6.31
1966	6.99	6.35
1967	6.98	6.38
1968	6.97	6.39
1969	6.95	6.39
1970	6.94	6.41
1971	6.91	6.43
1972	6.89	6.45
1973	6.86	6.47
1974	6.82	6.53
1975	6.77	6.55
1976	6.71	6.55
1977	6.65	6.57
1978	6.56	6.59
1979	6.47	6.58
1980	6.38	6.56
1981	6.27	6.55
1982	6.17	6.56
1983	6.07	6.57
1984	5.97	6.59
1985	5.92	6.59
1986	5.81	6.6
1987	5.68	6.61
1988	5.55	6.59
1989	5.45	6.57
1990	5.36	6.57
1991	5.26	6.55
1992	5.12	6.56
1993	4.95	6.57
1994	4.72	6.56
1995	4.49	6.56
1996	4.26	6.55
1997	4.05	6.53
1998	3.9	6.5
1999	3.73	6.42
2000	3.55	6.36
2001	3.37	6.31
2002	3.19	6.23
2003	3.03	6.09
2004	2.9	5.92
2005	2.73	5.81
2006	2.56	5.74
2007	2.41	5.64
2008	2.3	5.56
2009	2.25	5.45
2010	2.33	5.33
2011	2.33	5.21
2012	2.15	5.06
2013	2.07	4.87
2014	2.03	4.7
2015	1.97	4.55
2016	1.97	4.47
2017	1.93	4.39
2018	1.8	4.29
2019	1.7	4.19
2020	1.59	4.08
2021	1.55	3.98
2022	1.53	3.88
2023	1.52	3.79
2024	1.51	3.7
2025	1.5	3.61
2026	1.49	3.53
2027	1.48	3.47
2028	1.47	3.37
2029	1.47	3.3
2030	1.47	3.23
2031	1.47	3.18
2032	1.47	3.12
2033	1.47	3.07
2034	1.47	3.02
2035	1.47	2.97
2036	1.47	2.92
2037	1.47	2.88
2038	1.47	2.84
2039	1.48	2.79
2040	1.48	2.76
2041	1.48	2.72
2042	1.48	2.68
2043	1.49	2.65
2044	1.49	2.62
2045	1.49	2.58
2046	1.49	2.55
2047	1.49	2.53
2048	1.5	2.5
2049	1.5	2.47
2050	1.5	2.45

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Cape Verde	Sierra Leone
1960	43.6%	38.2%
1961	44.3%	38.3%
1962	45.1%	38.3%
1963	45.6%	38.5%
1964	46%	38.8%
1965	46.2%	39.1%
1966	46.2%	39.4%
1967	46.1%	39.6%
1968	45.9%	39.9%
1969	45.5%	40.1%
1970	45.2%	40.3%
1971	45%	40.6%
1972	45%	40.7%
1973	45%	40.9%
1974	44.9%	41.1%
1975	45.3%	41.3%
1976	45.9%	41.4%
1977	46.5%	41.6%
1978	46.9%	41.7%
1979	47.3%	41.8%
1980	47.4%	41.9%
1981	47.3%	42%
1982	47%	42.1%
1983	46.8%	42.2%
1984	46.6%	42.3%
1985	46.4%	42.5%
1986	46.2%	42.6%
1987	46.1%	42.7%
1988	45.9%	42.8%
1989	45.8%	42.9%
1990	45.7%	42.9%
1991	45.6%	43%
1992	45.5%	43.1%
1993	45.2%	43.2%
1994	44.9%	43.3%
1995	44.6%	43.4%
1996	44.2%	43.5%
1997	43.7%	43.5%
1998	43.2%	43.6%
1999	42.5%	43.7%
2000	41.8%	43.8%
2001	40.9%	43.9%
2002	39.9%	43.9%
2003	38.9%	43.9%
2004	37.9%	43.9%
2005	36.9%	43.8%
2006	36%	43.7%
2007	35%	43.6%
2008	34.1%	43.5%
2009	33.1%	43.4%
2010	32.2%	43.2%
2011	31.3%	43%
2012	30.4%	42.8%
2013	29.8%	42.5%
2014	29.2%	42.2%
2015	28.8%	41.8%
2016	28.5%	41.4%
2017	28.4%	41%
2018	28.4%	40.6%
2019	28.4%	40.2%
2020	28.4%	39.8%
2021	28%	39.4%
2022	27.2%	39%
2023	26.4%	38.5%
2024	25.5%	38.1%
2025	24.7%	37.7%
2026	23.8%	37.2%
2027	23%	36.8%
2028	22.2%	36.3%
2029	21.4%	35.9%
2030	20.6%	35.5%
2031	19.8%	35.2%
2032	19%	34.8%
2033	18.2%	34.4%
2034	17.5%	34%
2035	16.9%	33.6%
2036	16.6%	33.2%
2037	16.5%	32.8%
2038	16.4%	32.4%
2039	16.4%	32%
2040	16.3%	31.6%
2041	16.2%	31.2%
2042	16.2%	30.9%
2043	16.1%	30.5%
2044	16.1%	30.2%
2045	16%	29.8%
2046	16%	29.5%
2047	15.9%	29.2%
2048	15.8%	28.8%
2049	15.7%	28.5%
2050	15.6%	28.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 25.5% of the population in Cape Verde and 38.1% in Sierra Leone in 2024, compared to 45.7% and 42.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Cape Verde and Sierra Leone compared.

Natural population change in Cape Verde vs Sierra Leone by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.98% in Cape Verde 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
	Cape Verde	Sierra Leone
1960	6,098	38,192
1961	6,247	40,022
1962	6,468	41,603
1963	6,589	43,569
1964	6,725	45,487
1965	6,877	47,223
1966	7,039	49,486
1967	7,214	51,734
1968	7,408	53,126
1969	7,625	54,768
1970	7,878	56,513
1971	8,359	58,484
1972	8,716	60,279
1973	9,003	62,443
1974	9,295	65,357
1975	9,601	67,560
1976	9,833	69,506
1977	10,036	71,663
1978	10,152	74,130
1979	10,223	75,992
1980	10,276	77,932
1981	10,470	80,111
1982	10,597	82,457
1983	10,736	84,628
1984	10,835	87,072
1985	11,105	88,869
1986	11,295	90,902
1987	11,426	94,235
1988	11,523	96,344
1989	11,608	98,298
1990	11,738	100,778
1991	11,899	105,477
1992	11,915	103,251
1993	11,805	103,317
1994	11,410	101,486
1995	10,764	100,885
1996	10,613	104,140
1997	10,323	105,433
1998	10,187	103,906
1999	9,989	102,295
2000	9,752	110,754
2001	9,510	116,647
2002	9,278	126,429
2003	9,037	130,312
2004	8,825	132,661
2005	8,428	137,234
2006	7,980	144,127
2007	7,559	145,740
2008	7,313	149,855
2009	7,216	152,669
2010	7,746	155,338
2011	7,874	158,858
2012	7,157	160,915
2013	6,780	161,265
2014	6,622	160,137
2015	6,314	162,275
2016	6,238	168,784
2017	5,993	173,259
2018	5,282	178,772
2019	4,773	181,068
2020	3,734	181,015
2021	3,575	183,326
2022	3,864	186,625
2023	3,798	188,788

Maternal mortality chart: Cape Verde vs Sierra Leone

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 40 deaths per 100,000 live births in Cape Verde, compared to 354 deaths in Sierra Leone.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Cape Verde	Sierra Leone
1985	420	1,506
1986	394	1,530
1987	366	1,533
1988	346	1,549
1989	322	1,575
1990	298	1,572
1991	277	1,699
1992	255	1,681
1993	233	1,696
1994	214	1,755
1995	196	1,777
1996	167	1,726
1997	147	1,721
1998	134	1,753
1999	122	1,731
2000	110	1,603
2001	101	1,518
2002	92	1,492
2003	86	1,433
2004	80	1,366
2005	75	1,294
2006	76	1,168
2007	73	1,132
2008	68	1,093
2009	62	1,054
2010	61	1,018
2011	55	967
2012	51	915
2013	50	842
2014	48	821
2015	46	730
2016	44	633
2017	43	578
2018	43	491
2019	41	464
2020	56	422
2021	56	403
2022	42	370
2023	40	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.16% in Cape Verde 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
	Cape Verde	Sierra Leone
1960	17.2%	39.1%
1961	16.9%	38.5%
1962	16.6%	38%
1963	16.2%	37.4%
1964	15.9%	36.8%
1965	15.4%	36.2%
1966	15%	35.6%
1967	14.5%	35%
1968	14%	34.5%
1969	13.4%	33.9%
1970	12.8%	33.4%
1971	12.1%	32.9%
1972	11.5%	32.3%
1973	10.8%	31.9%
1974	10.2%	31.4%
1975	9.6%	30.9%
1976	9.09%	30.5%
1977	8.65%	30%
1978	8.27%	29.6%
1979	8%	29.2%
1980	7.82%	28.9%
1981	7.72%	28.5%
1982	7.65%	28.1%
1983	7.59%	27.8%
1984	7.46%	27.5%
1985	7.25%	27.2%
1986	6.95%	26.9%
1987	6.59%	26.6%
1988	6.21%	26.4%
1989	5.88%	26.2%
1990	5.64%	25.9%
1991	5.5%	25.7%
1992	5.46%	25.5%
1993	5.46%	25.3%
1994	5.45%	25%
1995	5.37%	24.7%
1996	5.17%	24.3%
1997	4.84%	23.9%
1998	4.44%	23.4%
1999	4%	22.9%
2000	3.6%	22.4%
2001	3.28%	21.8%
2002	3.05%	21.3%
2003	2.9%	20.7%
2004	2.82%	20.1%
2005	2.8%	19.4%
2006	2.8%	18.8%
2007	2.8%	18.1%
2008	2.79%	17.3%
2009	2.75%	16.6%
2010	2.67%	15.9%
2011	2.56%	15.2%
2012	2.42%	14.5%
2013	2.26%	13.9%
2014	2.09%	13.7%
2015	1.91%	13.8%
2016	1.76%	12.3%
2017	1.62%	11.8%
2018	1.51%	11.3%
2019	1.41%	10.9%
2020	1.33%	10.5%
2021	1.27%	10.1%
2022	1.21%	9.77%
2023	1.16%	9.43%