Fertility & birth rates in China and South Korea

Fertility rate in China vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs South Korea 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 Korea
1960	4.45	5.99
1961	3.86	5.8
1962	6.09	5.56
1963	7.51	5.33
1964	6.67	5.07
1965	6.61	4.89
1966	6.31	4.78
1967	5.81	4.62
1968	6.51	4.51
1969	6.18	4.45
1970	6.09	4.53
1971	5.52	4.54
1972	5.11	4.12
1973	4.73	4.07
1974	4.17	3.77
1975	3.57	3.43
1976	3.24	3
1977	2.84	2.99
1978	2.72	2.64
1979	2.75	2.9
1980	2.74	2.82
1981	2.79	2.57
1982	2.97	2.39
1983	2.56	2.06
1984	2.61	1.74
1985	2.63	1.66
1986	2.72	1.58
1987	2.76	1.53
1988	2.54	1.55
1989	2.52	1.56
1990	2.51	1.57
1991	1.93	1.71
1992	1.78	1.76
1993	1.69	1.65
1994	1.63	1.66
1995	1.59	1.63
1996	1.55	1.57
1997	1.53	1.54
1998	1.52	1.46
1999	1.53	1.43
2000	1.63	1.48
2001	1.56	1.31
2002	1.57	1.18
2003	1.57	1.19
2004	1.61	1.16
2005	1.62	1.09
2006	1.64	1.13
2007	1.67	1.26
2008	1.7	1.19
2009	1.71	1.15
2010	1.69	1.23
2011	1.67	1.24
2012	1.8	1.3
2013	1.71	1.19
2014	1.77	1.21
2015	1.67	1.24
2016	1.77	1.17
2017	1.8	1.05
2018	1.54	0.98
2019	1.5	0.92
2020	1.24	0.84
2021	1.12	0.81
2022	1.03	0.78
2023	1	0.72
2024	1.01	0.73
2025	1.02	0.75
2026	1.03	0.76
2027	1.04	0.78
2028	1.05	0.79
2029	1.05	0.8
2030	1.06	0.82
2031	1.07	0.83
2032	1.08	0.84
2033	1.08	0.85
2034	1.09	0.86
2035	1.1	0.88
2036	1.1	0.89
2037	1.11	0.9
2038	1.12	0.91
2039	1.12	0.92
2040	1.13	0.93
2041	1.13	0.95
2042	1.14	0.96
2043	1.15	0.96
2044	1.15	0.97
2045	1.16	0.98
2046	1.16	0.99
2047	1.17	1
2048	1.17	1.01
2049	1.18	1.02
2050	1.18	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	South Korea
1960	40.3%	41.3%
1961	40%	41.8%
1962	40%	42.3%
1963	40.6%	42.7%
1964	41.2%	43.1%
1965	41.5%	43.3%
1966	41.5%	43.5%
1967	41.3%	43.3%
1968	41%	43.1%
1969	41%	42.7%
1970	40.8%	42.1%
1971	40.7%	41.5%
1972	40.4%	41%
1973	40.1%	40.3%
1974	40.2%	39.5%
1975	40.2%	38.5%
1976	40.3%	37.5%
1977	39.8%	36.5%
1978	38.6%	35.6%
1979	37.2%	34.8%
1980	36.1%	34%
1981	35.1%	33.3%
1982	34.3%	32.7%
1983	33.3%	32%
1984	32.2%	31.2%
1985	31.2%	30.2%
1986	30.4%	29.2%
1987	29.8%	28.2%
1988	29.3%	27.3%
1989	28.9%	26.5%
1990	28.8%	25.8%
1991	28.6%	25.2%
1992	28.4%	24.7%
1993	28.2%	24.2%
1994	27.8%	23.7%
1995	27.4%	23.1%
1996	27%	22.5%
1997	26.3%	22%
1998	25.7%	21.6%
1999	25.2%	21.2%
2000	24.5%	21%
2001	23.8%	20.8%
2002	22.9%	20.5%
2003	22%	20.1%
2004	21.2%	19.7%
2005	20.3%	19.2%
2006	19.6%	18.7%
2007	19.2%	18.1%
2008	18.9%	17.5%
2009	18.6%	16.9%
2010	18.5%	16.4%
2011	18.3%	15.8%
2012	18.3%	15.2%
2013	18.3%	14.7%
2014	18.3%	14.2%
2015	18.3%	13.8%
2016	18.3%	13.4%
2017	18.4%	13%
2018	18.3%	12.7%
2019	18.2%	12.4%
2020	18%	12.1%
2021	17.6%	11.8%
2022	17.1%	11.4%
2023	16.6%	11%
2024	16%	10.6%
2025	15.4%	10.2%
2026	14.8%	9.82%
2027	14.1%	9.42%
2028	13.5%	9.06%
2029	12.8%	8.75%
2030	12.1%	8.43%
2031	11.5%	8.15%
2032	10.8%	7.94%
2033	10.3%	7.79%
2034	9.83%	7.7%
2035	9.53%	7.66%
2036	9.37%	7.65%
2037	9.31%	7.66%
2038	9.31%	7.68%
2039	9.34%	7.71%
2040	9.38%	7.73%
2041	9.43%	7.75%
2042	9.49%	7.76%
2043	9.56%	7.77%
2044	9.63%	7.78%
2045	9.71%	7.79%
2046	9.78%	7.8%
2047	9.85%	7.81%
2048	9.9%	7.82%
2049	9.93%	7.82%
2050	9.94%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in China vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +0.06% in South Korea. 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 Korea
1960	-3,048,510	728,010
1961	2,496,047	730,173
1962	17,969,132	712,590
1963	22,742,225	685,824
1964	19,302,532	655,501
1965	20,296,950	641,090
1966	19,282,187	623,534
1967	19,263,662	692,169
1968	21,206,083	684,487
1969	20,760,332	694,227
1970	21,137,076	747,987
1971	19,622,980	789,185
1972	19,102,585	740,469
1973	18,423,727	699,115
1974	15,738,118	673,030
1975	14,378,237	603,300
1976	11,782,472	530,558
1977	11,378,068	578,947
1978	11,473,980	499,084
1979	11,250,148	623,068
1980	11,647,260	583,294
1981	14,461,027	631,189
1982	15,815,318	605,626
1983	13,599,789	514,844
1984	13,561,671	436,384
1985	14,987,830	416,219
1986	16,609,920	395,651
1987	18,005,821	378,758
1988	17,328,640	399,297
1989	16,824,495	403,266
1990	16,335,313	411,546
1991	14,937,124	467,594
1992	13,548,601	494,352
1993	13,493,138	477,302
1994	13,360,470	473,200
1995	12,711,220	468,967
1996	12,686,872	446,142
1997	12,374,554	422,773
1998	11,351,286	393,436
1999	10,247,372	368,272
2000	9,570,849	390,167
2001	8,839,358	312,643
2002	8,258,580	247,752
2003	7,743,284	244,251
2004	7,607,960	225,988
2005	7,678,911	187,920
2006	6,922,185	203,441
2007	6,813,465	248,286
2008	6,729,247	215,841
2009	6,483,236	197,231
2010	6,407,607	213,083
2011	8,245,065	214,728
2012	10,075,174	215,859
2013	8,043,116	166,415
2014	9,205,180	167,464
2015	6,788,911	163,248
2016	9,062,269	122,923
2017	7,790,880	71,907
2018	5,302,433	30,951
2019	4,673,713	10,353
2020	2,046,095	-31,101
2021	480,203	-56,947
2022	-847,305	-124,014
2023	-2,087,851	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: China vs South Korea

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 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	South Korea
1985	125	38
1986	120	35
1987	114	34
1988	108	31
1989	104	29
1990	102	28
1991	92	28
1992	86	26
1993	80	24
1994	76	23
1995	71	22
1996	67	20
1997	63	19
1998	60	18
1999	58	17
2000	56	15
2001	52	14
2002	50	13
2003	47	13
2004	45	12
2005	42	11
2006	40	10
2007	38	10
2008	38	9
2009	35	9
2010	34	8
2011	33	8
2012	32	8
2013	30	7
2014	28	7
2015	26	6
2016	25	6
2017	24	6
2018	22	5
2019	21	5
2020	20	12
2021	21	5
2022	18	7
2023	16	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 0.28% in South Korea. 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 Korea
1960	-	11.2%
1961	-	10.6%
1962	-	10.1%
1963	-	9.67%
1964	-	9.18%
1965	-	8.68%
1966	-	8.16%
1967	-	7.62%
1968	-	7.1%
1969	11.9%	6.59%
1970	11.3%	6.12%
1971	10.7%	5.71%
1972	10.2%	5.36%
1973	9.61%	5.07%
1974	9.05%	4.82%
1975	8.5%	4.61%
1976	7.97%	4.42%
1977	7.47%	4.23%
1978	7.01%	4.04%
1979	6.62%	3.84%
1980	6.28%	3.63%
1981	6%	3.4%
1982	5.78%	3.17%
1983	5.61%	2.93%
1984	5.5%	2.7%
1985	5.43%	2.46%
1986	5.4%	2.25%
1987	5.4%	2.05%
1988	5.4%	1.87%
1989	5.39%	1.71%
1990	5.37%	1.57%
1991	5.31%	1.44%
1992	5.22%	1.33%
1993	5.08%	1.23%
1994	4.93%	1.14%
1995	4.75%	1.05%
1996	4.56%	0.98%
1997	4.36%	0.91%
1998	4.14%	0.85%
1999	3.91%	0.8%
2000	3.67%	0.75%
2001	3.42%	0.71%
2002	3.15%	0.68%
2003	2.89%	0.64%
2004	2.64%	0.6%
2005	2.4%	0.56%
2006	2.19%	0.52%
2007	2.01%	0.48%
2008	1.85%	0.45%
2009	1.71%	0.43%
2010	1.58%	0.41%
2011	1.46%	0.4%
2012	1.35%	0.38%
2013	1.25%	0.37%
2014	1.15%	0.36%
2015	1.07%	0.35%
2016	0.99%	0.34%
2017	0.92%	0.33%
2018	0.86%	0.32%
2019	0.8%	0.31%
2020	0.75%	0.3%
2021	0.7%	0.29%
2022	0.66%	0.28%
2023	0.62%	0.28%