Fertility & birth rates in China and Thailand

Fertility rate in China vs Thailand chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.21 in Thailand in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs Thailand 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	Thailand
1960	4.45	6.33
1961	3.86	6.32
1962	6.09	6.33
1963	7.51	6.34
1964	6.67	6.31
1965	6.61	6.26
1966	6.31	6.18
1967	5.81	6.08
1968	6.51	5.93
1969	6.18	5.7
1970	6.09	5.45
1971	5.52	5.25
1972	5.11	5.08
1973	4.73	4.85
1974	4.17	4.6
1975	3.57	4.36
1976	3.24	4.12
1977	2.84	3.87
1978	2.72	3.62
1979	2.75	3.45
1980	2.74	3.29
1981	2.79	3.13
1982	2.97	2.94
1983	2.56	2.76
1984	2.61	2.58
1985	2.63	2.45
1986	2.72	2.36
1987	2.76	2.26
1988	2.54	2.17
1989	2.52	2.14
1990	2.51	2.07
1991	1.93	2.04
1992	1.78	2.01
1993	1.69	1.97
1994	1.63	1.93
1995	1.59	1.89
1996	1.55	1.87
1997	1.53	1.85
1998	1.52	1.82
1999	1.53	1.77
2000	1.63	1.73
2001	1.56	1.71
2002	1.57	1.69
2003	1.57	1.67
2004	1.61	1.67
2005	1.62	1.64
2006	1.64	1.63
2007	1.67	1.62
2008	1.7	1.59
2009	1.71	1.57
2010	1.69	1.56
2011	1.67	1.57
2012	1.8	1.56
2013	1.71	1.53
2014	1.77	1.48
2015	1.67	1.45
2016	1.77	1.4
2017	1.8	1.36
2018	1.54	1.32
2019	1.5	1.29
2020	1.24	1.26
2021	1.12	1.23
2022	1.03	1.22
2023	1	1.21
2024	1.01	1.2
2025	1.02	1.19
2026	1.03	1.19
2027	1.04	1.19
2028	1.05	1.19
2029	1.05	1.19
2030	1.06	1.2
2031	1.07	1.2
2032	1.08	1.21
2033	1.08	1.21
2034	1.09	1.22
2035	1.1	1.22
2036	1.1	1.23
2037	1.11	1.23
2038	1.12	1.24
2039	1.12	1.24
2040	1.13	1.25
2041	1.13	1.25
2042	1.14	1.26
2043	1.15	1.26
2044	1.15	1.26
2045	1.16	1.27
2046	1.16	1.27
2047	1.17	1.28
2048	1.17	1.28
2049	1.18	1.28
2050	1.18	1.29

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Thailand
1960	40.3%	44.3%
1961	40%	44.6%
1962	40%	44.8%
1963	40.6%	45.1%
1964	41.2%	45.3%
1965	41.5%	45.4%
1966	41.5%	45.4%
1967	41.3%	45.3%
1968	41%	45.2%
1969	41%	45%
1970	40.8%	44.8%
1971	40.7%	44.4%
1972	40.4%	44%
1973	40.1%	43.5%
1974	40.2%	43%
1975	40.2%	42.4%
1976	40.3%	41.8%
1977	39.8%	41.1%
1978	38.6%	40.3%
1979	37.2%	39.5%
1980	36.1%	38.7%
1981	35.1%	37.8%
1982	34.3%	37%
1983	33.3%	36%
1984	32.2%	35.1%
1985	31.2%	34.1%
1986	30.4%	33.2%
1987	29.8%	32.4%
1988	29.3%	31.5%
1989	28.9%	30.7%
1990	28.8%	30%
1991	28.6%	29.2%
1992	28.4%	28.5%
1993	28.2%	28%
1994	27.8%	27.4%
1995	27.4%	26.9%
1996	27%	26.4%
1997	26.3%	25.9%
1998	25.7%	25.4%
1999	25.2%	24.9%
2000	24.5%	24.4%
2001	23.8%	23.9%
2002	22.9%	23.4%
2003	22%	23%
2004	21.2%	22.6%
2005	20.3%	22.2%
2006	19.6%	21.7%
2007	19.2%	21.3%
2008	18.9%	20.9%
2009	18.6%	20.6%
2010	18.5%	20.1%
2011	18.3%	19.7%
2012	18.3%	19.2%
2013	18.3%	18.8%
2014	18.3%	18.5%
2015	18.3%	18.1%
2016	18.3%	17.7%
2017	18.4%	17.3%
2018	18.3%	16.9%
2019	18.2%	16.6%
2020	18%	16.2%
2021	17.6%	15.8%
2022	17.1%	15.4%
2023	16.6%	15.1%
2024	16%	14.7%
2025	15.4%	14.4%
2026	14.8%	14.1%
2027	14.1%	13.7%
2028	13.5%	13.4%
2029	12.8%	13.1%
2030	12.1%	12.9%
2031	11.5%	12.7%
2032	10.8%	12.5%
2033	10.3%	12.3%
2034	9.83%	12.2%
2035	9.53%	12.1%
2036	9.37%	12%
2037	9.31%	11.9%
2038	9.31%	11.9%
2039	9.34%	11.8%
2040	9.38%	11.8%
2041	9.43%	11.8%
2042	9.49%	11.8%
2043	9.56%	11.7%
2044	9.63%	11.7%
2045	9.71%	11.7%
2046	9.78%	11.7%
2047	9.85%	11.6%
2048	9.9%	11.6%
2049	9.93%	11.6%
2050	9.94%	11.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 14.7% in Thailand in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 30% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Thailand compared.

Natural population change in China vs Thailand by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +0.18% in Thailand. 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	Thailand
1960	-3,048,510	774,190
1961	2,496,047	801,140
1962	17,969,132	828,741
1963	22,742,225	860,728
1964	19,302,532	885,137
1965	20,296,950	909,000
1966	19,282,187	929,469
1967	19,263,662	944,980
1968	21,206,083	953,806
1969	20,760,332	948,314
1970	21,137,076	937,116
1971	19,622,980	936,215
1972	19,102,585	940,420
1973	18,423,727	933,540
1974	15,738,118	923,151
1975	14,378,237	911,980
1976	11,782,472	894,072
1977	11,378,068	871,232
1978	11,473,980	847,799
1979	11,250,148	843,434
1980	11,647,260	845,575
1981	14,461,027	839,297
1982	15,815,318	817,951
1983	13,599,789	794,239
1984	13,561,671	779,856
1985	14,987,830	776,935
1986	16,609,920	783,430
1987	18,005,821	774,498
1988	17,328,640	765,252
1989	16,824,495	774,563
1990	16,335,313	760,808
1991	14,937,124	760,508
1992	13,548,601	754,999
1993	13,493,138	737,696
1994	13,360,470	712,589
1995	12,711,220	682,703
1996	12,686,872	661,397
1997	12,374,554	644,834
1998	11,351,286	617,318
1999	10,247,372	578,073
2000	9,570,849	543,884
2001	8,839,358	524,230
2002	8,258,580	504,299
2003	7,743,284	488,003
2004	7,607,960	466,542
2005	7,678,911	456,378
2006	6,922,185	441,211
2007	6,813,465	425,362
2008	6,729,247	401,730
2009	6,483,236	382,636
2010	6,407,607	370,466
2011	8,245,065	365,670
2012	10,075,174	351,485
2013	8,043,116	325,059
2014	9,205,180	294,628
2015	6,788,911	266,362
2016	9,062,269	226,255
2017	7,790,880	194,695
2018	5,302,433	159,383
2019	4,673,713	116,867
2020	2,046,095	84,107
2021	480,203	57,382
2022	-847,305	-61,046
2023	-2,087,851	-46,105

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Thailand

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 34 deaths in Thailand.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Thailand
1985	125	88
1986	120	78
1987	114	72
1988	108	67
1989	104	64
1990	102	60
1991	92	59
1992	86	58
1993	80	57
1994	76	54
1995	71	52
1996	67	49
1997	63	48
1998	60	47
1999	58	48
2000	56	49
2001	52	47
2002	50	44
2003	47	42
2004	45	44
2005	42	40
2006	40	38
2007	38	38
2008	38	37
2009	35	37
2010	34	37
2011	33	37
2012	32	36
2013	30	35
2014	28	34
2015	26	34
2016	25	34
2017	24	34
2018	22	34
2019	21	34
2020	20	36
2021	21	38
2022	18	112
2023	16	34

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 0.92% in Thailand. 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	Thailand
1960	-	14.7%
1961	-	14.2%
1962	-	13.7%
1963	-	13.2%
1964	-	12.8%
1965	-	12.3%
1966	-	11.8%
1967	-	11.4%
1968	-	10.9%
1969	11.9%	10.4%
1970	11.3%	9.95%
1971	10.7%	9.47%
1972	10.2%	9.01%
1973	9.61%	8.56%
1974	9.05%	8.14%
1975	8.5%	7.73%
1976	7.97%	7.35%
1977	7.47%	7%
1978	7.01%	6.67%
1979	6.62%	6.36%
1980	6.28%	6.07%
1981	6%	5.79%
1982	5.78%	5.53%
1983	5.61%	5.28%
1984	5.5%	5.03%
1985	5.43%	4.8%
1986	5.4%	4.57%
1987	5.4%	4.34%
1988	5.4%	4.12%
1989	5.39%	3.91%
1990	5.37%	3.69%
1991	5.31%	3.49%
1992	5.22%	3.3%
1993	5.08%	3.12%
1994	4.93%	2.96%
1995	4.75%	2.81%
1996	4.56%	2.67%
1997	4.36%	2.53%
1998	4.14%	2.41%
1999	3.91%	2.29%
2000	3.67%	2.18%
2001	3.42%	2.08%
2002	3.15%	1.98%
2003	2.89%	1.89%
2004	2.64%	1.81%
2005	2.4%	1.73%
2006	2.19%	1.66%
2007	2.01%	1.59%
2008	1.85%	1.53%
2009	1.71%	1.47%
2010	1.58%	1.42%
2011	1.46%	1.37%
2012	1.35%	1.32%
2013	1.25%	1.27%
2014	1.15%	1.23%
2015	1.07%	1.19%
2016	0.99%	1.15%
2017	0.92%	1.11%
2018	0.86%	1.08%
2019	0.8%	1.04%
2020	0.75%	1.01%
2021	0.7%	0.98%
2022	0.66%	0.95%
2023	0.62%	0.92%