Fertility & birth rates in China and DR Congo

Fertility rate in China vs DR Congo chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 6.05 in the DR Congo in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs the DR Congo population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	China	DR Congo
1960	4.45	6.11
1961	3.86	6.12
1962	6.09	6.14
1963	7.51	6.16
1964	6.67	6.19
1965	6.61	6.21
1966	6.31	6.24
1967	5.81	6.27
1968	6.51	6.29
1969	6.18	6.3
1970	6.09	6.33
1971	5.52	6.34
1972	5.11	6.37
1973	4.73	6.39
1974	4.17	6.4
1975	3.57	6.42
1976	3.24	6.44
1977	2.84	6.45
1978	2.72	6.46
1979	2.75	6.48
1980	2.74	6.5
1981	2.79	6.52
1982	2.97	6.54
1983	2.56	6.56
1984	2.61	6.59
1985	2.63	6.61
1986	2.72	6.63
1987	2.76	6.65
1988	2.54	6.66
1989	2.52	6.65
1990	2.51	6.65
1991	1.93	6.65
1992	1.78	6.64
1993	1.69	6.64
1994	1.63	6.64
1995	1.59	6.68
1996	1.55	6.67
1997	1.53	6.69
1998	1.52	6.7
1999	1.53	6.69
2000	1.63	6.7
2001	1.56	6.66
2002	1.57	6.61
2003	1.57	6.55
2004	1.61	6.53
2005	1.62	6.53
2006	1.64	6.55
2007	1.67	6.56
2008	1.7	6.58
2009	1.71	6.59
2010	1.69	6.59
2011	1.67	6.58
2012	1.8	6.56
2013	1.71	6.53
2014	1.77	6.48
2015	1.67	6.44
2016	1.77	6.39
2017	1.8	6.35
2018	1.54	6.3
2019	1.5	6.25
2020	1.24	6.21
2021	1.12	6.16
2022	1.03	6.11
2023	1	6.05
2024	1.01	5.98
2025	1.02	5.9
2026	1.03	5.8
2027	1.04	5.71
2028	1.05	5.62
2029	1.05	5.52
2030	1.06	5.42
2031	1.07	5.32
2032	1.08	5.2
2033	1.08	5.09
2034	1.09	4.99
2035	1.1	4.87
2036	1.1	4.77
2037	1.11	4.64
2038	1.12	4.55
2039	1.12	4.47
2040	1.13	4.38
2041	1.13	4.3
2042	1.14	4.21
2043	1.15	4.14
2044	1.15	4.06
2045	1.16	3.99
2046	1.16	3.92
2047	1.17	3.85
2048	1.17	3.78
2049	1.18	3.72
2050	1.18	3.66

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	DR Congo
1960	40.3%	42.9%
1961	40%	42.8%
1962	40%	42.7%
1963	40.6%	42.7%
1964	41.2%	42.7%
1965	41.5%	42.8%
1966	41.5%	42.9%
1967	41.3%	43%
1968	41%	43.2%
1969	41%	43.3%
1970	40.8%	43.4%
1971	40.7%	43.6%
1972	40.4%	43.8%
1973	40.1%	44%
1974	40.2%	44.2%
1975	40.2%	44.3%
1976	40.3%	44.5%
1977	39.8%	44.6%
1978	38.6%	44.5%
1979	37.2%	44.3%
1980	36.1%	44.2%
1981	35.1%	44.3%
1982	34.3%	44.3%
1983	33.3%	44.2%
1984	32.2%	44.1%
1985	31.2%	44.1%
1986	30.4%	44.1%
1987	29.8%	44.2%
1988	29.3%	44.3%
1989	28.9%	44.3%
1990	28.8%	44.4%
1991	28.6%	44.4%
1992	28.4%	44.5%
1993	28.2%	44.5%
1994	27.8%	44.1%
1995	27.4%	44%
1996	27%	44.7%
1997	26.3%	45.4%
1998	25.7%	45.6%
1999	25.2%	45.6%
2000	24.5%	45.7%
2001	23.8%	45.7%
2002	22.9%	45.7%
2003	22%	45.8%
2004	21.2%	45.9%
2005	20.3%	45.9%
2006	19.6%	45.9%
2007	19.2%	46%
2008	18.9%	46%
2009	18.6%	46.1%
2010	18.5%	46.1%
2011	18.3%	46%
2012	18.3%	46%
2013	18.3%	46%
2014	18.3%	46%
2015	18.3%	46%
2016	18.3%	45.9%
2017	18.4%	45.8%
2018	18.3%	45.9%
2019	18.2%	46%
2020	18%	46.1%
2021	17.6%	46.1%
2022	17.1%	46.1%
2023	16.6%	46.1%
2024	16%	46%
2025	15.4%	45.9%
2026	14.8%	45.8%
2027	14.1%	45.7%
2028	13.5%	45.5%
2029	12.8%	45.3%
2030	12.1%	45%
2031	11.5%	44.8%
2032	10.8%	44.5%
2033	10.3%	44.2%
2034	9.83%	43.8%
2035	9.53%	43.4%
2036	9.37%	43%
2037	9.31%	42.6%
2038	9.31%	42.2%
2039	9.34%	41.7%
2040	9.38%	41.3%
2041	9.43%	40.9%
2042	9.49%	40.4%
2043	9.56%	40%
2044	9.63%	39.6%
2045	9.71%	39.2%
2046	9.78%	38.8%
2047	9.85%	38.4%
2048	9.9%	38%
2049	9.93%	37.7%
2050	9.94%	37.3%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 46% in the DR Congo in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 44.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and the DR Congo compared.

Natural population change in China vs DR Congo by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +3.29% in the DR Congo. 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
	China	DR Congo
1960	-3,048,510	363,517
1961	2,496,047	368,207
1962	17,969,132	383,406
1963	22,742,225	398,972
1964	19,302,532	406,334
1965	20,296,950	429,002
1966	19,282,187	463,397
1967	19,263,662	479,552
1968	21,206,083	497,682
1969	20,760,332	514,800
1970	21,137,076	533,300
1971	19,622,980	549,343
1972	19,102,585	564,495
1973	18,423,727	578,280
1974	15,738,118	593,539
1975	14,378,237	608,655
1976	11,782,472	624,147
1977	11,378,068	638,242
1978	11,473,980	646,411
1979	11,250,148	691,773
1980	11,647,260	724,111
1981	14,461,027	748,371
1982	15,815,318	774,823
1983	13,599,789	807,122
1984	13,561,671	844,956
1985	14,987,830	885,670
1986	16,609,920	925,334
1987	18,005,821	959,875
1988	17,328,640	995,278
1989	16,824,495	1,027,238
1990	16,335,313	1,063,508
1991	14,937,124	1,114,033
1992	13,548,601	1,152,781
1993	13,493,138	1,209,242
1994	13,360,470	1,259,539
1995	12,711,220	1,395,440
1996	12,686,872	1,380,490
1997	12,374,554	1,392,037
1998	11,351,286	1,375,130
1999	10,247,372	1,450,318
2000	9,570,849	1,549,518
2001	8,839,358	1,594,999
2002	8,258,580	1,631,597
2003	7,743,284	1,679,188
2004	7,607,960	1,731,022
2005	7,678,911	1,800,300
2006	6,922,185	1,889,398
2007	6,813,465	1,963,738
2008	6,729,247	2,044,210
2009	6,483,236	2,126,912
2010	6,407,607	2,212,255
2011	8,245,065	2,310,679
2012	10,075,174	2,405,462
2013	8,043,116	2,489,378
2014	9,205,180	2,580,251
2015	6,788,911	2,665,016
2016	9,062,269	2,753,687
2017	7,790,880	2,883,245
2018	5,302,433	2,993,184
2019	4,673,713	3,075,538
2020	2,046,095	3,156,152
2021	480,203	3,227,992
2022	-847,305	3,347,664
2023	-2,087,851	3,467,787

Maternal mortality chart: China vs DR Congo

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 16 deaths per 100,000 live births in China, compared to 427 deaths in the DR Congo.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	DR Congo
1985	125	934
1986	120	902
1987	114	863
1988	108	824
1989	104	791
1990	102	755
1991	92	735
1992	86	709
1993	80	683
1994	76	656
1995	71	644
1996	67	661
1997	63	617
1998	60	605
1999	58	601
2000	56	585
2001	52	588
2002	50	601
2003	47	605
2004	45	607
2005	42	613
2006	40	619
2007	38	631
2008	38	620
2009	35	608
2010	34	601
2011	33	589
2012	32	578
2013	30	567
2014	28	558
2015	26	545
2016	25	526
2017	24	519
2018	22	508
2019	21	493
2020	20	489
2021	21	507
2022	18	456
2023	16	427

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 7.32% in the DR Congo. 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
	China	DR Congo
1969	11.9%	25.1%
1970	11.3%	24.7%
1971	10.7%	24.3%
1972	10.2%	24%
1973	9.61%	23.7%
1974	9.05%	23.4%
1975	8.5%	23%
1976	7.97%	22.6%
1977	7.47%	22.3%
1978	7.01%	21.9%
1979	6.62%	21.5%
1980	6.28%	21.2%
1981	6%	20.9%
1982	5.78%	20.6%
1983	5.61%	20.3%
1984	5.5%	20%
1985	5.43%	19.7%
1986	5.4%	19.5%
1987	5.4%	19.2%
1988	5.4%	19%
1989	5.39%	18.8%
1990	5.37%	18.5%
1991	5.31%	18.3%
1992	5.22%	18.1%
1993	5.08%	17.9%
1994	4.93%	17.7%
1995	4.75%	17.5%
1996	4.56%	17.3%
1997	4.36%	17%
1998	4.14%	16.7%
1999	3.91%	16.3%
2000	3.67%	15.9%
2001	3.42%	15.5%
2002	3.15%	15%
2003	2.89%	14.6%
2004	2.64%	14.1%
2005	2.4%	13.6%
2006	2.19%	13.1%
2007	2.01%	12.7%
2008	1.85%	12.2%
2009	1.71%	11.8%
2010	1.58%	11.4%
2011	1.46%	11%
2012	1.35%	10.6%
2013	1.25%	10.3%
2014	1.15%	9.9%
2015	1.07%	9.56%
2016	0.99%	9.23%
2017	0.92%	8.93%
2018	0.86%	8.63%
2019	0.8%	8.35%
2020	0.75%	8.07%
2021	0.7%	7.81%
2022	0.66%	7.57%
2023	0.62%	7.32%