Fertility & birth rates in China and Saudi Arabia

Fertility rate in China vs Saudi Arabia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.28 in Saudi Arabia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs Saudi Arabia 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	Saudi Arabia
1960	4.45	7.63
1961	3.86	7.63
1962	6.09	7.64
1963	7.51	7.65
1964	6.67	7.67
1965	6.61	7.66
1966	6.31	7.66
1967	5.81	7.66
1968	6.51	7.63
1969	6.18	7.6
1970	6.09	7.58
1971	5.52	7.56
1972	5.11	7.54
1973	4.73	7.48
1974	4.17	7.43
1975	3.57	7.37
1976	3.24	7.33
1977	2.84	7.3
1978	2.72	7.26
1979	2.75	7.23
1980	2.74	7.15
1981	2.79	7.07
1982	2.97	6.98
1983	2.56	6.88
1984	2.61	6.78
1985	2.63	6.65
1986	2.72	6.52
1987	2.76	6.34
1988	2.54	6.15
1989	2.52	5.98
1990	2.51	5.8
1991	1.93	5.64
1992	1.78	5.49
1993	1.69	5.33
1994	1.63	5.16
1995	1.59	4.99
1996	1.55	4.81
1997	1.53	4.66
1998	1.52	4.52
1999	1.53	4.35
2000	1.63	4.21
2001	1.56	3.96
2002	1.57	3.71
2003	1.57	3.47
2004	1.61	3.26
2005	1.62	3.16
2006	1.64	3.18
2007	1.67	3.19
2008	1.7	3.07
2009	1.71	2.95
2010	1.69	2.81
2011	1.67	2.8
2012	1.8	2.78
2013	1.71	2.67
2014	1.77	2.68
2015	1.67	2.63
2016	1.77	2.65
2017	1.8	2.67
2018	1.54	2.67
2019	1.5	2.49
2020	1.24	2.27
2021	1.12	2.17
2022	1.03	2.14
2023	1	2.28
2024	1.01	2.31
2025	1.02	2.29
2026	1.03	2.27
2027	1.04	2.25
2028	1.05	2.22
2029	1.05	2.2
2030	1.06	2.17
2031	1.07	2.15
2032	1.08	2.13
2033	1.08	2.11
2034	1.09	2.09
2035	1.1	2.07
2036	1.1	2.05
2037	1.11	2.03
2038	1.12	2.01
2039	1.12	1.99
2040	1.13	1.98
2041	1.13	1.97
2042	1.14	1.95
2043	1.15	1.94
2044	1.15	1.93
2045	1.16	1.92
2046	1.16	1.91
2047	1.17	1.9
2048	1.17	1.89
2049	1.18	1.88
2050	1.18	1.87

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Saudi Arabia
1960	40.3%	43.4%
1961	40%	43.6%
1962	40%	43.9%
1963	40.6%	44.3%
1964	41.2%	44.6%
1965	41.5%	44.8%
1966	41.5%	45.1%
1967	41.3%	45.3%
1968	41%	45.4%
1969	41%	45.5%
1970	40.8%	45.5%
1971	40.7%	45.5%
1972	40.4%	45.3%
1973	40.1%	45.2%
1974	40.2%	45%
1975	40.2%	44.8%
1976	40.3%	44.6%
1977	39.8%	44.5%
1978	38.6%	44.3%
1979	37.2%	44.2%
1980	36.1%	44.1%
1981	35.1%	43.9%
1982	34.3%	43.8%
1983	33.3%	43.7%
1984	32.2%	43.6%
1985	31.2%	43.6%
1986	30.4%	43.5%
1987	29.8%	43.4%
1988	29.3%	43.3%
1989	28.9%	43.2%
1990	28.8%	43%
1991	28.6%	42.7%
1992	28.4%	42.4%
1993	28.2%	42.1%
1994	27.8%	41.7%
1995	27.4%	41.2%
1996	27%	40.7%
1997	26.3%	40.1%
1998	25.7%	39.5%
1999	25.2%	38.9%
2000	24.5%	38.3%
2001	23.8%	37.7%
2002	22.9%	36.8%
2003	22%	35.7%
2004	21.2%	34.5%
2005	20.3%	33.2%
2006	19.6%	31.9%
2007	19.2%	30.6%
2008	18.9%	29.5%
2009	18.6%	28.5%
2010	18.5%	27.6%
2011	18.3%	26.9%
2012	18.3%	26.3%
2013	18.3%	25.8%
2014	18.3%	25.4%
2015	18.3%	25.1%
2016	18.3%	24.9%
2017	18.4%	25.2%
2018	18.3%	25.7%
2019	18.2%	25.8%
2020	18%	25.5%
2021	17.6%	25.2%
2022	17.1%	24.6%
2023	16.6%	24.1%
2024	16%	23.8%
2025	15.4%	23.6%
2026	14.8%	23.4%
2027	14.1%	23.3%
2028	13.5%	23.1%
2029	12.8%	22.9%
2030	12.1%	22.8%
2031	11.5%	22.6%
2032	10.8%	22.5%
2033	10.3%	22.4%
2034	9.83%	22.3%
2035	9.53%	22.2%
2036	9.37%	22.2%
2037	9.31%	22.1%
2038	9.31%	22%
2039	9.34%	21.9%
2040	9.38%	21.7%
2041	9.43%	21.5%
2042	9.49%	21.3%
2043	9.56%	21.2%
2044	9.63%	21%
2045	9.71%	20.8%
2046	9.78%	20.7%
2047	9.85%	20.5%
2048	9.9%	20.4%
2049	9.93%	20.2%
2050	9.94%	20.1%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 23.8% in Saudi Arabia in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 43% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Saudi Arabia compared.

Natural population change in China vs Saudi Arabia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +1.57% in Saudi Arabia. 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	Saudi Arabia
1960	-3,048,510	74,143
1961	2,496,047	77,743
1962	17,969,132	81,393
1963	22,742,225	85,480
1964	19,302,532	89,776
1965	20,296,950	93,820
1966	19,282,187	98,361
1967	19,263,662	103,343
1968	21,206,083	108,281
1969	20,760,332	113,859
1970	21,137,076	120,440
1971	19,622,980	127,600
1972	19,102,585	136,360
1973	18,423,727	145,450
1974	15,738,118	155,478
1975	14,378,237	166,223
1976	11,782,472	178,024
1977	11,378,068	191,103
1978	11,473,980	205,331
1979	11,250,148	220,186
1980	11,647,260	234,372
1981	14,461,027	249,156
1982	15,815,318	264,831
1983	13,599,789	280,616
1984	13,561,671	296,615
1985	14,987,830	310,558
1986	16,609,920	322,340
1987	18,005,821	333,088
1988	17,328,640	342,865
1989	16,824,495	349,399
1990	16,335,313	355,495
1991	14,937,124	361,329
1992	13,548,601	366,763
1993	13,493,138	372,621
1994	13,360,470	377,351
1995	12,711,220	380,231
1996	12,686,872	382,248
1997	12,374,554	385,033
1998	11,351,286	389,499
1999	10,247,372	390,112
2000	9,570,849	392,407
2001	8,839,358	382,153
2002	8,258,580	372,099
2003	7,743,284	364,520
2004	7,607,960	362,843
2005	7,678,911	375,938
2006	6,922,185	399,333
2007	6,813,465	425,199
2008	6,729,247	433,457
2009	6,483,236	438,557
2010	6,407,607	418,641
2011	8,245,065	443,675
2012	10,075,174	465,649
2013	8,043,116	475,299
2014	9,205,180	493,431
2015	6,788,911	511,023
2016	9,062,269	537,829
2017	7,790,880	546,751
2018	5,302,433	528,767
2019	4,673,713	474,407
2020	2,046,095	447,036
2021	480,203	409,032
2022	-847,305	406,920
2023	-2,087,851	474,366

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Saudi Arabia

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 7 deaths in Saudi Arabia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Saudi Arabia
1985	125	40
1986	120	38
1987	114	36
1988	108	34
1989	104	32
1990	102	30
1991	92	29
1992	86	27
1993	80	26
1994	76	25
1995	71	24
1996	67	23
1997	63	23
1998	60	22
1999	58	21
2000	56	20
2001	52	19
2002	50	18
2003	47	16
2004	45	16
2005	42	15
2006	40	14
2007	38	13
2008	38	12
2009	35	11
2010	34	11
2011	33	10
2012	32	9
2013	30	9
2014	28	8
2015	26	8
2016	25	8
2017	24	8
2018	22	8
2019	21	8
2020	20	11
2021	21	12
2022	18	9
2023	16	7

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 0.62% in Saudi Arabia. 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	Saudi Arabia
1969	11.9%	-
1970	11.3%	-
1971	10.7%	-
1972	10.2%	16%
1973	9.61%	14.9%
1974	9.05%	14%
1975	8.5%	13.1%
1976	7.97%	12.2%
1977	7.47%	11.4%
1978	7.01%	10.7%
1979	6.62%	9.99%
1980	6.28%	9.34%
1981	6%	8.71%
1982	5.78%	8.12%
1983	5.61%	7.56%
1984	5.5%	7.04%
1985	5.43%	6.55%
1986	5.4%	6.07%
1987	5.4%	5.62%
1988	5.4%	5.19%
1989	5.39%	4.8%
1990	5.37%	4.44%
1991	5.31%	4.11%
1992	5.22%	3.81%
1993	5.08%	3.54%
1994	4.93%	3.29%
1995	4.75%	3.06%
1996	4.56%	2.86%
1997	4.36%	2.67%
1998	4.14%	2.5%
1999	3.91%	2.35%
2000	3.67%	2.21%
2001	3.42%	2.08%
2002	3.15%	1.96%
2003	2.89%	1.85%
2004	2.64%	1.75%
2005	2.4%	1.65%
2006	2.19%	1.56%
2007	2.01%	1.47%
2008	1.85%	1.38%
2009	1.71%	1.3%
2010	1.58%	1.22%
2011	1.46%	1.15%
2012	1.35%	1.08%
2013	1.25%	1.02%
2014	1.15%	0.96%
2015	1.07%	0.9%
2016	0.99%	0.85%
2017	0.92%	0.8%
2018	0.86%	0.76%
2019	0.8%	0.72%
2020	0.75%	0.69%
2021	0.7%	0.66%
2022	0.66%	0.64%
2023	0.62%	0.62%