Fertility & birth rates in China and Ethiopia

Fertility rate in China vs Ethiopia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 3.99 in Ethiopia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs Ethiopia 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	Ethiopia
1960	4.45	6.51
1961	3.86	6.53
1962	6.09	6.56
1963	7.51	6.59
1964	6.67	6.61
1965	6.61	6.63
1966	6.31	6.66
1967	5.81	6.68
1968	6.51	6.7
1969	6.18	6.72
1970	6.09	6.78
1971	5.52	6.84
1972	5.11	6.9
1973	4.73	6.96
1974	4.17	7.02
1975	3.57	7.08
1976	3.24	7.13
1977	2.84	7.19
1978	2.72	7.23
1979	2.75	7.25
1980	2.74	7.29
1981	2.79	7.31
1982	2.97	7.34
1983	2.56	7.35
1984	2.61	7.36
1985	2.63	7.34
1986	2.72	7.32
1987	2.76	7.29
1988	2.54	7.26
1989	2.52	7.23
1990	2.51	7.2
1991	1.93	7.16
1992	1.78	7.13
1993	1.69	7.09
1994	1.63	7.05
1995	1.59	7
1996	1.55	6.93
1997	1.53	6.87
1998	1.52	6.79
1999	1.53	6.72
2000	1.63	6.65
2001	1.56	6.58
2002	1.57	6.5
2003	1.57	6.4
2004	1.61	6.3
2005	1.62	6.19
2006	1.64	6.05
2007	1.67	5.89
2008	1.7	5.7
2009	1.71	5.49
2010	1.69	5.28
2011	1.67	5.08
2012	1.8	4.89
2013	1.71	4.71
2014	1.77	4.61
2015	1.67	4.53
2016	1.77	4.47
2017	1.8	4.4
2018	1.54	4.37
2019	1.5	4.35
2020	1.24	4.27
2021	1.12	4.18
2022	1.03	4.08
2023	1	3.99
2024	1.01	3.91
2025	1.02	3.81
2026	1.03	3.72
2027	1.04	3.64
2028	1.05	3.57
2029	1.05	3.5
2030	1.06	3.43
2031	1.07	3.36
2032	1.08	3.3
2033	1.08	3.24
2034	1.09	3.19
2035	1.1	3.14
2036	1.1	3.08
2037	1.11	3.03
2038	1.12	2.99
2039	1.12	2.94
2040	1.13	2.9
2041	1.13	2.86
2042	1.14	2.83
2043	1.15	2.79
2044	1.15	2.75
2045	1.16	2.72
2046	1.16	2.68
2047	1.17	2.65
2048	1.17	2.62
2049	1.18	2.59
2050	1.18	2.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Ethiopia
1960	40.3%	42.2%
1961	40%	42.2%
1962	40%	42.1%
1963	40.6%	42.2%
1964	41.2%	42.3%
1965	41.5%	42.5%
1966	41.5%	42.9%
1967	41.3%	43.2%
1968	41%	43.5%
1969	41%	43.8%
1970	40.8%	44.2%
1971	40.7%	44.5%
1972	40.4%	44.9%
1973	40.1%	45.2%
1974	40.2%	45.4%
1975	40.2%	45.6%
1976	40.3%	45.7%
1977	39.8%	45.9%
1978	38.6%	46.1%
1979	37.2%	46.2%
1980	36.1%	46.3%
1981	35.1%	46.4%
1982	34.3%	46.5%
1983	33.3%	46.4%
1984	32.2%	46.2%
1985	31.2%	46.1%
1986	30.4%	46%
1987	29.8%	46%
1988	29.3%	46%
1989	28.9%	46.1%
1990	28.8%	46.2%
1991	28.6%	46.2%
1992	28.4%	46.2%
1993	28.2%	46.4%
1994	27.8%	46.5%
1995	27.4%	46.7%
1996	27%	46.9%
1997	26.3%	47.1%
1998	25.7%	47.4%
1999	25.2%	47.6%
2000	24.5%	47.7%
2001	23.8%	47.8%
2002	22.9%	47.8%
2003	22%	47.7%
2004	21.2%	47.6%
2005	20.3%	47.4%
2006	19.6%	47.2%
2007	19.2%	46.9%
2008	18.9%	46.6%
2009	18.6%	46.2%
2010	18.5%	45.7%
2011	18.3%	45.2%
2012	18.3%	44.6%
2013	18.3%	44%
2014	18.3%	43.4%
2015	18.3%	42.9%
2016	18.3%	42.3%
2017	18.4%	41.8%
2018	18.3%	41.3%
2019	18.2%	40.9%
2020	18%	40.5%
2021	17.6%	40.1%
2022	17.1%	39.7%
2023	16.6%	39.4%
2024	16%	39.1%
2025	15.4%	38.8%
2026	14.8%	38.5%
2027	14.1%	38.3%
2028	13.5%	38.1%
2029	12.8%	37.8%
2030	12.1%	37.6%
2031	11.5%	37.3%
2032	10.8%	37%
2033	10.3%	36.6%
2034	9.83%	36.2%
2035	9.53%	35.8%
2036	9.37%	35.4%
2037	9.31%	34.9%
2038	9.31%	34.5%
2039	9.34%	34%
2040	9.38%	33.6%
2041	9.43%	33.2%
2042	9.49%	32.8%
2043	9.56%	32.4%
2044	9.63%	32%
2045	9.71%	31.7%
2046	9.78%	31.3%
2047	9.85%	31%
2048	9.9%	30.7%
2049	9.93%	30.3%
2050	9.94%	30%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 39.1% in Ethiopia in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 46.2% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Ethiopia compared.

Natural population change in China vs Ethiopia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +2.64% in Ethiopia. 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	Ethiopia
1960	-3,048,510	511,694
1961	2,496,047	538,518
1962	17,969,132	563,650
1963	22,742,225	590,998
1964	19,302,532	618,667
1965	20,296,950	642,359
1966	19,282,187	616,281
1967	19,263,662	695,283
1968	21,206,083	715,602
1969	20,760,332	736,428
1970	21,137,076	760,821
1971	19,622,980	787,047
1972	19,102,585	779,808
1973	18,423,727	807,535
1974	15,738,118	777,306
1975	14,378,237	801,425
1976	11,782,472	899,577
1977	11,378,068	929,381
1978	11,473,980	943,388
1979	11,250,148	987,203
1980	11,647,260	1,007,516
1981	14,461,027	1,018,838
1982	15,815,318	1,080,853
1983	13,599,789	863,472
1984	13,561,671	920,670
1985	14,987,830	997,050
1986	16,609,920	1,050,277
1987	18,005,821	1,356,853
1988	17,328,640	1,393,356
1989	16,824,495	1,441,769
1990	16,335,313	1,479,663
1991	14,937,124	1,579,416
1992	13,548,601	1,673,839
1993	13,493,138	1,734,851
1994	13,360,470	1,788,133
1995	12,711,220	1,831,068
1996	12,686,872	1,896,364
1997	12,374,554	1,945,112
1998	11,351,286	1,984,989
1999	10,247,372	2,010,987
2000	9,570,849	2,083,622
2001	8,839,358	2,137,791
2002	8,258,580	2,189,683
2003	7,743,284	2,231,223
2004	7,607,960	2,296,999
2005	7,678,911	2,353,375
2006	6,922,185	2,393,585
2007	6,813,465	2,436,753
2008	6,729,247	2,465,283
2009	6,483,236	2,467,118
2010	6,407,607	2,498,048
2011	8,245,065	2,527,811
2012	10,075,174	2,533,398
2013	8,043,116	2,546,020
2014	9,205,180	2,623,647
2015	6,788,911	2,713,529
2016	9,062,269	2,809,889
2017	7,790,880	2,899,143
2018	5,302,433	3,015,231
2019	4,673,713	3,132,780
2020	2,046,095	3,199,718
2021	480,203	3,204,673
2022	-847,305	3,300,114
2023	-2,087,851	3,338,649

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Ethiopia

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 195 deaths in Ethiopia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Ethiopia
1985	125	1,329
1986	120	1,317
1987	114	1,289
1988	108	1,306
1989	104	1,296
1990	102	1,320
1991	92	1,239
1992	86	1,218
1993	80	1,168
1994	76	1,113
1995	71	1,060
1996	67	1,008
1997	63	957
1998	60	911
1999	58	901
2000	56	870
2001	52	856
2002	50	826
2003	47	797
2004	45	764
2005	42	754
2006	40	729
2007	38	704
2008	38	678
2009	35	649
2010	34	619
2011	33	588
2012	32	545
2013	30	494
2014	28	444
2015	26	401
2016	25	364
2017	24	327
2018	22	297
2019	21	269
2020	20	244
2021	21	250
2022	18	207
2023	16	195

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 4.65% in Ethiopia. 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	Ethiopia
1966	-	27.8%
1967	-	24.9%
1968	-	24.8%
1969	11.9%	24.8%
1970	11.3%	24.7%
1971	10.7%	24.7%
1972	10.2%	24.7%
1973	9.61%	24.6%
1974	9.05%	28.3%
1975	8.5%	28.2%
1976	7.97%	24.5%
1977	7.47%	24.5%
1978	7.01%	24.4%
1979	6.62%	24.2%
1980	6.28%	24%
1981	6%	23.8%
1982	5.78%	23.5%
1983	5.61%	32%
1984	5.5%	31.4%
1985	5.43%	30.3%
1986	5.4%	29.7%
1987	5.4%	21.5%
1988	5.4%	21%
1989	5.39%	20.6%
1990	5.37%	20.2%
1991	5.31%	19.7%
1992	5.22%	19.1%
1993	5.08%	18.5%
1994	4.93%	17.9%
1995	4.75%	17.2%
1996	4.56%	16.6%
1997	4.36%	15.9%
1998	4.14%	15.3%
1999	3.91%	14.7%
2000	3.67%	14%
2001	3.42%	13.4%
2002	3.15%	12.8%
2003	2.89%	12.1%
2004	2.64%	11.5%
2005	2.4%	10.9%
2006	2.19%	10.3%
2007	2.01%	9.74%
2008	1.85%	9.23%
2009	1.71%	8.76%
2010	1.58%	8.32%
2011	1.46%	7.91%
2012	1.35%	7.53%
2013	1.25%	7.16%
2014	1.15%	6.82%
2015	1.07%	6.49%
2016	0.99%	6.17%
2017	0.92%	5.89%
2018	0.86%	5.64%
2019	0.8%	5.41%
2020	0.75%	5.2%
2021	0.7%	5%
2022	0.66%	4.82%
2023	0.62%	4.65%