Fertility & birth rates in China and Singapore

Fertility rate in China vs Singapore chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.97 in Singapore in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs Singapore 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	Singapore
1960	4.45	5.76
1961	3.86	5.41
1962	6.09	5.21
1963	7.51	5.16
1964	6.67	4.97
1965	6.61	4.66
1966	6.31	4.46
1967	5.81	3.91
1968	6.51	3.53
1969	6.18	3.22
1970	6.09	3.07
1971	5.52	3.02
1972	5.11	3.04
1973	4.73	2.79
1974	4.17	2.35
1975	3.57	2.07
1976	3.24	2.11
1977	2.84	1.82
1978	2.72	1.79
1979	2.75	1.79
1980	2.74	1.82
1981	2.79	1.78
1982	2.97	1.74
1983	2.56	1.61
1984	2.61	1.62
1985	2.63	1.61
1986	2.72	1.43
1987	2.76	1.62
1988	2.54	1.96
1989	2.52	1.75
1990	2.51	1.83
1991	1.93	1.73
1992	1.78	1.72
1993	1.69	1.74
1994	1.63	1.71
1995	1.59	1.67
1996	1.55	1.66
1997	1.53	1.61
1998	1.52	1.48
1999	1.53	1.47
2000	1.63	1.6
2001	1.56	1.41
2002	1.57	1.37
2003	1.57	1.27
2004	1.61	1.26
2005	1.62	1.26
2006	1.64	1.28
2007	1.67	1.29
2008	1.7	1.28
2009	1.71	1.22
2010	1.69	1.15
2011	1.67	1.2
2012	1.8	1.29
2013	1.71	1.19
2014	1.77	1.25
2015	1.67	1.24
2016	1.77	1.2
2017	1.8	1.16
2018	1.54	1.14
2019	1.5	1.14
2020	1.24	1.1
2021	1.12	1.12
2022	1.03	1.04
2023	1	0.97
2024	1.01	0.98
2025	1.02	0.99
2026	1.03	1
2027	1.04	1.01
2028	1.05	1.02
2029	1.05	1.03
2030	1.06	1.03
2031	1.07	1.04
2032	1.08	1.05
2033	1.08	1.06
2034	1.09	1.07
2035	1.1	1.07
2036	1.1	1.08
2037	1.11	1.09
2038	1.12	1.1
2039	1.12	1.1
2040	1.13	1.11
2041	1.13	1.12
2042	1.14	1.13
2043	1.15	1.13
2044	1.15	1.14
2045	1.16	1.15
2046	1.16	1.16
2047	1.17	1.17
2048	1.17	1.17
2049	1.18	1.18
2050	1.18	1.19

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Singapore
1960	40.3%	44.7%
1961	40%	44.8%
1962	40%	44.7%
1963	40.6%	44.4%
1964	41.2%	43.8%
1965	41.5%	43.2%
1966	41.5%	42.5%
1967	41.3%	41.7%
1968	41%	40.8%
1969	41%	39.8%
1970	40.8%	38.7%
1971	40.7%	37.5%
1972	40.4%	36.2%
1973	40.1%	35%
1974	40.2%	33.7%
1975	40.2%	32.5%
1976	40.3%	31.2%
1977	39.8%	30%
1978	38.6%	28.8%
1979	37.2%	27.6%
1980	36.1%	26.4%
1981	35.1%	25.2%
1982	34.3%	24.2%
1983	33.3%	23.7%
1984	32.2%	23.3%
1985	31.2%	23.1%
1986	30.4%	22.9%
1987	29.8%	22.4%
1988	29.3%	22%
1989	28.9%	21.7%
1990	28.8%	21.4%
1991	28.6%	21.2%
1992	28.4%	21.1%
1993	28.2%	21%
1994	27.8%	20.7%
1995	27.4%	20.4%
1996	27%	20%
1997	26.3%	19.5%
1998	25.7%	19.2%
1999	25.2%	19%
2000	24.5%	18.8%
2001	23.8%	18.6%
2002	22.9%	18.4%
2003	22%	18.2%
2004	21.2%	17.8%
2005	20.3%	17.2%
2006	19.6%	16.6%
2007	19.2%	15.8%
2008	18.9%	15.1%
2009	18.6%	14.6%
2010	18.5%	14.1%
2011	18.3%	13.7%
2012	18.3%	13.4%
2013	18.3%	13.1%
2014	18.3%	12.9%
2015	18.3%	12.7%
2016	18.3%	12.5%
2017	18.4%	12.4%
2018	18.3%	12.3%
2019	18.2%	12.2%
2020	18%	12.2%
2021	17.6%	12.2%
2022	17.1%	12%
2023	16.6%	11.8%
2024	16%	11.7%
2025	15.4%	11.7%
2026	14.8%	11.7%
2027	14.1%	11.8%
2028	13.5%	11.9%
2029	12.8%	12%
2030	12.1%	12%
2031	11.5%	12%
2032	10.8%	12.1%
2033	10.3%	12.1%
2034	9.83%	12.1%
2035	9.53%	12.1%
2036	9.37%	12.1%
2037	9.31%	12.1%
2038	9.31%	12%
2039	9.34%	11.8%
2040	9.38%	11.7%
2041	9.43%	11.5%
2042	9.49%	11.2%
2043	9.56%	11%
2044	9.63%	10.7%
2045	9.71%	10.4%
2046	9.78%	10.1%
2047	9.85%	9.87%
2048	9.9%	9.6%
2049	9.93%	9.35%
2050	9.94%	9.12%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 11.7% in Singapore in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 21.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Singapore compared.

Natural population change in China vs Singapore by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +0.35% in Singapore. 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	Singapore
1960	-3,048,510	51,533
1961	2,496,047	49,880
1962	17,969,132	48,830
1963	22,742,225	49,542
1964	19,302,532	47,697
1965	20,296,950	45,474
1966	19,282,187	44,298
1967	19,263,662	40,145
1968	21,206,083	36,216
1969	20,760,332	34,314
1970	21,137,076	35,059
1971	19,622,980	35,708
1972	19,102,585	38,098
1973	18,423,727	36,404
1974	15,738,118	31,664
1975	14,378,237	28,509
1976	11,782,472	31,189
1977	11,378,068	26,508
1978	11,473,980	27,537
1979	11,250,148	28,363
1980	11,647,260	30,657
1981	14,461,027	32,167
1982	15,815,318	33,346
1983	13,599,789	30,296
1984	13,561,671	31,967
1985	14,987,830	32,010
1986	16,609,920	27,880
1987	18,005,821	33,020
1988	17,328,640	42,407
1989	16,824,495	36,929
1990	16,335,313	41,136
1991	14,937,124	39,188
1992	13,548,601	39,091
1993	13,493,138	40,425
1994	13,360,470	39,319
1995	12,711,220	38,065
1996	12,686,872	38,542
1997	12,374,554	37,960
1998	11,351,286	33,381
1999	10,247,372	32,857
2000	9,570,849	37,057
2001	8,839,358	31,035
2002	8,258,580	29,231
2003	7,743,284	24,689
2004	7,607,960	24,583
2005	7,678,911	24,741
2006	6,922,185	25,968
2007	6,813,465	26,614
2008	6,729,247	28,068
2009	6,483,236	27,930
2010	6,407,607	24,876
2011	8,245,065	25,919
2012	10,075,174	29,750
2013	8,043,116	25,376
2014	9,205,180	27,896
2015	6,788,911	27,121
2016	9,062,269	25,794
2017	7,790,880	21,888
2018	5,302,433	21,427
2019	4,673,713	21,674
2020	2,046,095	18,763
2021	480,203	15,270
2022	-847,305	9,019
2023	-2,087,851	7,101

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Singapore

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 6 deaths in Singapore.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Singapore
1985	125	18
1986	120	18
1987	114	18
1988	108	18
1989	104	18
1990	102	17
1991	92	16
1992	86	16
1993	80	16
1994	76	16
1995	71	17
1996	67	17
1997	63	17
1998	60	17
1999	58	17
2000	56	17
2001	52	16
2002	50	16
2003	47	15
2004	45	14
2005	42	14
2006	40	13
2007	38	12
2008	38	11
2009	35	10
2010	34	10
2011	33	10
2012	32	10
2013	30	9
2014	28	9
2015	26	8
2016	25	8
2017	24	8
2018	22	8
2019	21	7
2020	20	13
2021	21	20
2022	18	34
2023	16	6

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 0.21% in Singapore. 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	Singapore
1960	-	4.76%
1961	-	4.37%
1962	-	4.05%
1963	-	3.81%
1964	-	3.64%
1965	-	3.5%
1966	-	3.34%
1967	-	3.18%
1968	-	3.01%
1969	11.9%	2.86%
1970	11.3%	2.71%
1971	10.7%	2.56%
1972	10.2%	2.39%
1973	9.61%	2.18%
1974	9.05%	1.95%
1975	8.5%	1.75%
1976	7.97%	1.62%
1977	7.47%	1.54%
1978	7.01%	1.51%
1979	6.62%	1.49%
1980	6.28%	1.46%
1981	6%	1.4%
1982	5.78%	1.32%
1983	5.61%	1.23%
1984	5.5%	1.16%
1985	5.43%	1.09%
1986	5.4%	1.03%
1987	5.4%	0.97%
1988	5.4%	0.91%
1989	5.39%	0.84%
1990	5.37%	0.77%
1991	5.31%	0.7%
1992	5.22%	0.63%
1993	5.08%	0.58%
1994	4.93%	0.54%
1995	4.75%	0.51%
1996	4.56%	0.48%
1997	4.36%	0.46%
1998	4.14%	0.44%
1999	3.91%	0.41%
2000	3.67%	0.38%
2001	3.42%	0.36%
2002	3.15%	0.34%
2003	2.89%	0.32%
2004	2.64%	0.31%
2005	2.4%	0.3%
2006	2.19%	0.29%
2007	2.01%	0.29%
2008	1.85%	0.28%
2009	1.71%	0.28%
2010	1.58%	0.28%
2011	1.46%	0.28%
2012	1.35%	0.28%
2013	1.25%	0.28%
2014	1.15%	0.27%
2015	1.07%	0.27%
2016	0.99%	0.27%
2017	0.92%	0.26%
2018	0.86%	0.25%
2019	0.8%	0.24%
2020	0.75%	0.23%
2021	0.7%	0.22%
2022	0.66%	0.22%
2023	0.62%	0.21%