Fertility & birth rates in China and South Africa

Fertility rate in China vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs South Africa 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	South Africa
1960	4.45	6.11
1961	3.86	6.08
1962	6.09	6.05
1963	7.51	6.01
1964	6.67	5.96
1965	6.61	5.89
1966	6.31	5.91
1967	5.81	5.85
1968	6.51	5.78
1969	6.18	5.72
1970	6.09	5.63
1971	5.52	5.57
1972	5.11	5.49
1973	4.73	5.41
1974	4.17	5.3
1975	3.57	5.19
1976	3.24	5.07
1977	2.84	4.94
1978	2.72	4.85
1979	2.75	4.82
1980	2.74	4.78
1981	2.79	4.71
1982	2.97	4.7
1983	2.56	4.63
1984	2.61	4.57
1985	2.63	4.5
1986	2.72	4.41
1987	2.76	4.35
1988	2.54	4.18
1989	2.52	3.98
1990	2.51	3.72
1991	1.93	3.62
1992	1.78	3.48
1993	1.69	3.37
1994	1.63	3.26
1995	1.59	3.17
1996	1.55	2.99
1997	1.53	2.73
1998	1.52	2.63
1999	1.53	2.56
2000	1.63	2.41
2001	1.56	2.37
2002	1.57	2.32
2003	1.57	2.36
2004	1.61	2.44
2005	1.62	2.51
2006	1.64	2.55
2007	1.67	2.55
2008	1.7	2.68
2009	1.71	2.5
2010	1.69	2.44
2011	1.67	2.44
2012	1.8	2.45
2013	1.71	2.43
2014	1.77	2.42
2015	1.67	2.36
2016	1.77	2.26
2017	1.8	2.28
2018	1.54	2.27
2019	1.5	2.26
2020	1.24	2.26
2021	1.12	2.25
2022	1.03	2.23
2023	1	2.22
2024	1.01	2.21
2025	1.02	2.19
2026	1.03	2.17
2027	1.04	2.15
2028	1.05	2.13
2029	1.05	2.12
2030	1.06	2.1
2031	1.07	2.09
2032	1.08	2.07
2033	1.08	2.06
2034	1.09	2.05
2035	1.1	2.04
2036	1.1	2.03
2037	1.11	2.02
2038	1.12	2
2039	1.12	1.99
2040	1.13	1.98
2041	1.13	1.98
2042	1.14	1.97
2043	1.15	1.96
2044	1.15	1.95
2045	1.16	1.94
2046	1.16	1.93
2047	1.17	1.92
2048	1.17	1.91
2049	1.18	1.9
2050	1.18	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	South Africa
1960	40.3%	42.1%
1961	40%	42.1%
1962	40%	42.1%
1963	40.6%	42.1%
1964	41.2%	42.1%
1965	41.5%	42.1%
1966	41.5%	42.1%
1967	41.3%	42.2%
1968	41%	42.2%
1969	41%	42.2%
1970	40.8%	42.3%
1971	40.7%	42.2%
1972	40.4%	42.2%
1973	40.1%	42.1%
1974	40.2%	42%
1975	40.2%	41.9%
1976	40.3%	41.8%
1977	39.8%	41.7%
1978	38.6%	41.5%
1979	37.2%	41.3%
1980	36.1%	40.9%
1981	35.1%	40.5%
1982	34.3%	40.1%
1983	33.3%	39.8%
1984	32.2%	39.5%
1985	31.2%	39.2%
1986	30.4%	38.9%
1987	29.8%	38.7%
1988	29.3%	38.4%
1989	28.9%	38.1%
1990	28.8%	37.7%
1991	28.6%	37.5%
1992	28.4%	37.6%
1993	28.2%	37.3%
1994	27.8%	37.2%
1995	27.4%	37.5%
1996	27%	37.5%
1997	26.3%	37.2%
1998	25.7%	36.5%
1999	25.2%	35.7%
2000	24.5%	34.9%
2001	23.8%	34%
2002	22.9%	33.2%
2003	22%	32.3%
2004	21.2%	31.6%
2005	20.3%	31.1%
2006	19.6%	30.6%
2007	19.2%	30.2%
2008	18.9%	29.9%
2009	18.6%	29.7%
2010	18.5%	29.4%
2011	18.3%	29.1%
2012	18.3%	28.9%
2013	18.3%	28.7%
2014	18.3%	28.5%
2015	18.3%	28.3%
2016	18.3%	28.3%
2017	18.4%	28.3%
2018	18.3%	27.9%
2019	18.2%	27.4%
2020	18%	27%
2021	17.6%	26.6%
2022	17.1%	26.3%
2023	16.6%	26.1%
2024	16%	25.9%
2025	15.4%	25.7%
2026	14.8%	25.6%
2027	14.1%	25.4%
2028	13.5%	25.3%
2029	12.8%	25.2%
2030	12.1%	25.2%
2031	11.5%	25.1%
2032	10.8%	25%
2033	10.3%	24.8%
2034	9.83%	24.5%
2035	9.53%	24.3%
2036	9.37%	23.9%
2037	9.31%	23.6%
2038	9.31%	23.4%
2039	9.34%	23.1%
2040	9.38%	22.9%
2041	9.43%	22.7%
2042	9.49%	22.5%
2043	9.56%	22.4%
2044	9.63%	22.2%
2045	9.71%	22.1%
2046	9.78%	21.9%
2047	9.85%	21.8%
2048	9.9%	21.7%
2049	9.93%	21.6%
2050	9.94%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in China vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +1.05% in South Africa. 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	South Africa
1960	-3,048,510	421,263
1961	2,496,047	437,851
1962	17,969,132	455,634
1963	22,742,225	473,821
1964	19,302,532	490,606
1965	20,296,950	506,632
1966	19,282,187	534,862
1967	19,263,662	553,741
1968	21,206,083	571,841
1969	20,760,332	590,794
1970	21,137,076	605,102
1971	19,622,980	624,761
1972	19,102,585	638,754
1973	18,423,727	651,596
1974	15,738,118	658,438
1975	14,378,237	667,862
1976	11,782,472	675,011
1977	11,378,068	680,929
1978	11,473,980	694,341
1979	11,250,148	716,541
1980	11,647,260	738,415
1981	14,461,027	767,833
1982	15,815,318	807,550
1983	13,599,789	837,013
1984	13,561,671	869,011
1985	14,987,830	893,889
1986	16,609,920	903,644
1987	18,005,821	922,330
1988	17,328,640	909,221
1989	16,824,495	884,629
1990	16,335,313	835,421
1991	14,937,124	827,296
1992	13,548,601	794,415
1993	13,493,138	789,220
1994	13,360,470	698,609
1995	12,711,220	743,488
1996	12,686,872	710,868
1997	12,374,554	667,969
1998	11,351,286	627,027
1999	10,247,372	594,643
2000	9,570,849	526,963
2001	8,839,358	484,801
2002	8,258,580	430,926
2003	7,743,284	415,018
2004	7,607,960	442,540
2005	7,678,911	464,464
2006	6,922,185	487,584
2007	6,813,465	503,567
2008	6,729,247	595,332
2009	6,483,236	554,115
2010	6,407,607	566,834
2011	8,245,065	601,708
2012	10,075,174	643,723
2013	8,043,116	652,427
2014	9,205,180	674,754
2015	6,788,911	668,771
2016	9,062,269	641,365
2017	7,790,880	645,975
2018	5,302,433	648,319
2019	4,673,713	652,130
2020	2,046,095	595,873
2021	480,203	456,411
2022	-847,305	603,636
2023	-2,087,851	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: China vs South Africa

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 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	South Africa
1985	125	208
1986	120	200
1987	114	192
1988	108	184
1989	104	177
1990	102	170
1991	92	162
1992	86	152
1993	80	145
1994	76	133
1995	71	125
1996	67	150
1997	63	152
1998	60	152
1999	58	151
2000	56	175
2001	52	192
2002	50	225
2003	47	245
2004	45	259
2005	42	279
2006	40	283
2007	38	272
2008	38	272
2009	35	241
2010	34	226
2011	33	202
2012	32	194
2013	30	180
2014	28	162
2015	26	150
2016	25	141
2017	24	134
2018	22	128
2019	21	119
2020	20	118
2021	21	191
2022	18	129
2023	16	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 3.47% in South Africa. 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	South Africa
1969	11.9%	-
1970	11.3%	-
1971	10.7%	-
1972	10.2%	-
1973	9.61%	-
1974	9.05%	13.2%
1975	8.5%	12.5%
1976	7.97%	11.8%
1977	7.47%	11.1%
1978	7.01%	10.5%
1979	6.62%	9.88%
1980	6.28%	9.35%
1981	6%	8.84%
1982	5.78%	8.39%
1983	5.61%	7.98%
1984	5.5%	7.6%
1985	5.43%	7.24%
1986	5.4%	6.89%
1987	5.4%	6.56%
1988	5.4%	6.26%
1989	5.39%	6.01%
1990	5.37%	5.82%
1991	5.31%	5.7%
1992	5.22%	5.66%
1993	5.08%	5.7%
1994	4.93%	5.82%
1995	4.75%	5.95%
1996	4.56%	6.11%
1997	4.36%	6.29%
1998	4.14%	6.56%
1999	3.91%	6.85%
2000	3.67%	7.11%
2001	3.42%	7.43%
2002	3.15%	7.69%
2003	2.89%	7.93%
2004	2.64%	8.1%
2005	2.4%	8.03%
2006	2.19%	7.75%
2007	2.01%	7.19%
2008	1.85%	6.42%
2009	1.71%	5.7%
2010	1.58%	5%
2011	1.46%	4.5%
2012	1.35%	4.25%
2013	1.25%	4.1%
2014	1.15%	3.96%
2015	1.07%	3.82%
2016	0.99%	3.68%
2017	0.92%	3.58%
2018	0.86%	3.49%
2019	0.8%	3.45%
2020	0.75%	3.41%
2021	0.7%	3.41%
2022	0.66%	3.44%
2023	0.62%	3.47%