Fertility & birth rates in China and Sri Lanka

Fertility rate in China vs Sri Lanka chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.97 in Sri Lanka in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs Sri Lanka 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	Sri Lanka
1960	4.45	5.35
1961	3.86	5.24
1962	6.09	5.18
1963	7.51	5.12
1964	6.67	5.06
1965	6.61	4.93
1966	6.31	4.83
1967	5.81	4.79
1968	6.51	4.66
1969	6.18	4.5
1970	6.09	4.39
1971	5.52	4.27
1972	5.11	4.16
1973	4.73	4
1974	4.17	3.86
1975	3.57	3.82
1976	3.24	3.78
1977	2.84	3.74
1978	2.72	3.81
1979	2.75	3.82
1980	2.74	3.73
1981	2.79	3.65
1982	2.97	3.32
1983	2.56	3.11
1984	2.61	3.01
1985	2.63	2.9
1986	2.72	2.74
1987	2.76	2.64
1988	2.54	2.57
1989	2.52	2.58
1990	2.51	2.54
1991	1.93	2.51
1992	1.78	2.49
1993	1.69	2.44
1994	1.63	2.4
1995	1.59	2.35
1996	1.55	2.29
1997	1.53	2.22
1998	1.52	2.14
1999	1.53	2.14
2000	1.63	2.21
2001	1.56	2.28
2002	1.57	2.31
2003	1.57	2.3
2004	1.61	2.27
2005	1.62	2.26
2006	1.64	2.29
2007	1.67	2.3
2008	1.7	2.23
2009	1.71	2.18
2010	1.69	2.13
2011	1.67	2.14
2012	1.8	2.17
2013	1.71	2.18
2014	1.77	2.13
2015	1.67	2.09
2016	1.77	2.06
2017	1.8	2.04
2018	1.54	2.03
2019	1.5	2.02
2020	1.24	2.01
2021	1.12	2
2022	1.03	1.98
2023	1	1.97
2024	1.01	1.95
2025	1.02	1.94
2026	1.03	1.93
2027	1.04	1.91
2028	1.05	1.9
2029	1.05	1.89
2030	1.06	1.88
2031	1.07	1.87
2032	1.08	1.86
2033	1.08	1.85
2034	1.09	1.85
2035	1.1	1.84
2036	1.1	1.83
2037	1.11	1.83
2038	1.12	1.82
2039	1.12	1.81
2040	1.13	1.81
2041	1.13	1.8
2042	1.14	1.8
2043	1.15	1.8
2044	1.15	1.79
2045	1.16	1.79
2046	1.16	1.79
2047	1.17	1.78
2048	1.17	1.78
2049	1.18	1.77
2050	1.18	1.77

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Sri Lanka
1960	40.3%	41%
1961	40%	40.9%
1962	40%	40.8%
1963	40.6%	40.7%
1964	41.2%	40.6%
1965	41.5%	40.5%
1966	41.5%	40.4%
1967	41.3%	40.3%
1968	41%	40.1%
1969	41%	39.9%
1970	40.8%	39.7%
1971	40.7%	39.5%
1972	40.4%	39.2%
1973	40.1%	38.8%
1974	40.2%	38.4%
1975	40.2%	38%
1976	40.3%	37.6%
1977	39.8%	37.2%
1978	38.6%	36.9%
1979	37.2%	36.7%
1980	36.1%	36.4%
1981	35.1%	36.2%
1982	34.3%	36%
1983	33.3%	35.8%
1984	32.2%	35.5%
1985	31.2%	35.2%
1986	30.4%	34.6%
1987	29.8%	34%
1988	29.3%	33.5%
1989	28.9%	33%
1990	28.8%	32.5%
1991	28.6%	32.1%
1992	28.4%	31.4%
1993	28.2%	30.6%
1994	27.8%	29.9%
1995	27.4%	29.2%
1996	27%	28.6%
1997	26.3%	28.2%
1998	25.7%	27.8%
1999	25.2%	27.4%
2000	24.5%	27%
2001	23.8%	26.6%
2002	22.9%	26.3%
2003	22%	26.1%
2004	21.2%	26%
2005	20.3%	25.8%
2006	19.6%	25.7%
2007	19.2%	25.7%
2008	18.9%	25.6%
2009	18.6%	25.5%
2010	18.5%	25.4%
2011	18.3%	25.3%
2012	18.3%	25.2%
2013	18.3%	25%
2014	18.3%	24.9%
2015	18.3%	24.7%
2016	18.3%	24.5%
2017	18.4%	24.2%
2018	18.3%	24%
2019	18.2%	23.7%
2020	18%	23.3%
2021	17.6%	23%
2022	17.1%	22.7%
2023	16.6%	22.4%
2024	16%	22%
2025	15.4%	21.7%
2026	14.8%	21.4%
2027	14.1%	21.1%
2028	13.5%	20.8%
2029	12.8%	20.5%
2030	12.1%	20.2%
2031	11.5%	20%
2032	10.8%	19.8%
2033	10.3%	19.6%
2034	9.83%	19.4%
2035	9.53%	19.2%
2036	9.37%	19.1%
2037	9.31%	18.9%
2038	9.31%	18.8%
2039	9.34%	18.7%
2040	9.38%	18.6%
2041	9.43%	18.4%
2042	9.49%	18.3%
2043	9.56%	18.2%
2044	9.63%	18.1%
2045	9.71%	18%
2046	9.78%	17.9%
2047	9.85%	17.7%
2048	9.9%	17.6%
2049	9.93%	17.5%
2050	9.94%	17.3%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 22% in Sri Lanka in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 32.5% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Sri Lanka compared.

Natural population change in China vs Sri Lanka by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +0.75% in Sri Lanka. 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	Sri Lanka
1960	-3,048,510	247,631
1961	2,496,047	251,087
1962	17,969,132	256,719
1963	22,742,225	262,880
1964	19,302,532	269,584
1965	20,296,950	272,422
1966	19,282,187	275,549
1967	19,263,662	284,738
1968	21,206,083	286,642
1969	20,760,332	286,218
1970	21,137,076	286,719
1971	19,622,980	281,200
1972	19,102,585	282,494
1973	18,423,727	278,577
1974	15,738,118	275,521
1975	14,378,237	282,496
1976	11,782,472	291,816
1977	11,378,068	300,038
1978	11,473,980	317,055
1979	11,250,148	329,791
1980	11,647,260	328,155
1981	14,461,027	328,096
1982	15,815,318	300,030
1983	13,599,789	277,768
1984	13,561,671	263,175
1985	14,987,830	247,836
1986	16,609,920	233,782
1987	18,005,821	226,414
1988	17,328,640	219,184
1989	16,824,495	212,401
1990	16,335,313	224,454
1991	14,937,124	218,117
1992	13,548,601	222,230
1993	13,493,138	226,257
1994	13,360,470	228,904
1995	12,711,220	221,957
1996	12,686,872	215,290
1997	12,374,554	208,193
1998	11,351,286	201,059
1999	10,247,372	206,876
2000	9,570,849	227,060
2001	8,839,358	244,377
2002	8,258,580	252,840
2003	7,743,284	252,008
2004	7,607,960	212,527
2005	7,678,911	248,683
2006	6,922,185	248,706
2007	6,813,465	248,287
2008	6,729,247	232,225
2009	6,483,236	200,175
2010	6,407,607	224,325
2011	8,245,065	224,461
2012	10,075,174	229,138
2013	8,043,116	221,021
2014	9,205,180	211,541
2015	6,788,911	201,815
2016	9,062,269	194,232
2017	7,790,880	187,993
2018	5,302,433	183,610
2019	4,673,713	172,243
2020	2,046,095	170,968
2021	480,203	121,858
2022	-847,305	95,378
2023	-2,087,851	66,111

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Sri Lanka

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 18 deaths in Sri Lanka.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Sri Lanka
1985	125	68
1986	120	66
1987	114	64
1988	108	62
1989	104	61
1990	102	59
1991	92	57
1992	86	54
1993	80	51
1994	76	49
1995	71	48
1996	67	47
1997	63	45
1998	60	43
1999	58	41
2000	56	39
2001	52	37
2002	50	36
2003	47	35
2004	45	37
2005	42	32
2006	40	32
2007	38	31
2008	38	30
2009	35	28
2010	34	26
2011	33	25
2012	32	24
2013	30	23
2014	28	23
2015	26	22
2016	25	22
2017	24	21
2018	22	21
2019	21	20
2020	20	23
2021	21	34
2022	18	22
2023	16	18

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 0.61% in Sri Lanka. 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	Sri Lanka
1960	-	9.41%
1961	-	8.95%
1962	-	8.66%
1963	-	8.48%
1964	-	8.3%
1965	-	8.07%
1966	-	7.81%
1967	-	7.55%
1968	-	7.32%
1969	11.9%	7.14%
1970	11.3%	7.02%
1971	10.7%	6.94%
1972	10.2%	6.86%
1973	9.61%	6.77%
1974	9.05%	6.62%
1975	8.5%	6.41%
1976	7.97%	6.12%
1977	7.47%	5.77%
1978	7.01%	5.38%
1979	6.62%	4.99%
1980	6.28%	4.63%
1981	6%	4.29%
1982	5.78%	3.98%
1983	5.61%	3.67%
1984	5.5%	3.35%
1985	5.43%	3.02%
1986	5.4%	2.74%
1987	5.4%	2.54%
1988	5.4%	2.41%
1989	5.39%	2.74%
1990	5.37%	2.33%
1991	5.31%	2.32%
1992	5.22%	2.29%
1993	5.08%	2.22%
1994	4.93%	2.14%
1995	4.75%	2.05%
1996	4.56%	1.95%
1997	4.36%	1.86%
1998	4.14%	1.76%
1999	3.91%	1.69%
2000	3.67%	1.63%
2001	3.42%	1.58%
2002	3.15%	1.55%
2003	2.89%	1.52%
2004	2.64%	2.88%
2005	2.4%	1.4%
2006	2.19%	1.33%
2007	2.01%	1.26%
2008	1.85%	1.2%
2009	1.71%	2.08%
2010	1.58%	1.12%
2011	1.46%	1.08%
2012	1.35%	1.03%
2013	1.25%	0.98%
2014	1.15%	0.92%
2015	1.07%	0.87%
2016	0.99%	0.83%
2017	0.92%	0.79%
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%	0.61%