Fertility & birth rates in China and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in China vs Zimbabwe chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in China was 1 children per woman in 2023, compared to 3.72 in Zimbabwe in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check China vs Zimbabwe 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	Zimbabwe
1960	4.45	7.2
1961	3.86	7.21
1962	6.09	7.23
1963	7.51	7.23
1964	6.67	7.23
1965	6.61	7.23
1966	6.31	7.2
1967	5.81	7.16
1968	6.51	7.11
1969	6.18	7.04
1970	6.09	6.98
1971	5.52	6.94
1972	5.11	6.94
1973	4.73	6.94
1974	4.17	6.88
1975	3.57	6.83
1976	3.24	6.77
1977	2.84	6.71
1978	2.72	6.66
1979	2.75	6.59
1980	2.74	6.52
1981	2.79	6.45
1982	2.97	6.33
1983	2.56	6.2
1984	2.61	6.04
1985	2.63	5.87
1986	2.72	5.69
1987	2.76	5.5
1988	2.54	5.28
1989	2.52	5.07
1990	2.51	4.88
1991	1.93	4.72
1992	1.78	4.57
1993	1.69	4.39
1994	1.63	4.28
1995	1.59	4.15
1996	1.55	4.11
1997	1.53	4.08
1998	1.52	4.07
1999	1.53	4.06
2000	1.63	4.01
2001	1.56	3.98
2002	1.57	3.93
2003	1.57	3.86
2004	1.61	3.78
2005	1.62	3.69
2006	1.64	3.64
2007	1.67	3.68
2008	1.7	3.78
2009	1.71	3.95
2010	1.69	4.04
2011	1.67	4.13
2012	1.8	4.13
2013	1.71	4.11
2014	1.77	4.01
2015	1.67	3.91
2016	1.77	3.83
2017	1.8	3.77
2018	1.54	3.74
2019	1.5	3.75
2020	1.24	3.75
2021	1.12	3.77
2022	1.03	3.77
2023	1	3.72
2024	1.01	3.67
2025	1.02	3.62
2026	1.03	3.57
2027	1.04	3.52
2028	1.05	3.47
2029	1.05	3.43
2030	1.06	3.38
2031	1.07	3.33
2032	1.08	3.29
2033	1.08	3.25
2034	1.09	3.21
2035	1.1	3.17
2036	1.1	3.13
2037	1.11	3.09
2038	1.12	3.06
2039	1.12	3.02
2040	1.13	2.99
2041	1.13	2.96
2042	1.14	2.93
2043	1.15	2.9
2044	1.15	2.87
2045	1.16	2.84
2046	1.16	2.81
2047	1.17	2.78
2048	1.17	2.75
2049	1.18	2.72
2050	1.18	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	China	Zimbabwe
1960	40.3%	47.3%
1961	40%	47.7%
1962	40%	48.1%
1963	40.6%	48.5%
1964	41.2%	48.8%
1965	41.5%	48.7%
1966	41.5%	48.6%
1967	41.3%	48.5%
1968	41%	48.5%
1969	41%	48.4%
1970	40.8%	48.3%
1971	40.7%	48.2%
1972	40.4%	48.2%
1973	40.1%	48.1%
1974	40.2%	48.1%
1975	40.2%	48.1%
1976	40.3%	48.2%
1977	39.8%	48.3%
1978	38.6%	48.5%
1979	37.2%	48.8%
1980	36.1%	48.7%
1981	35.1%	48.4%
1982	34.3%	48.3%
1983	33.3%	48.2%
1984	32.2%	48.1%
1985	31.2%	48%
1986	30.4%	47.9%
1987	29.8%	47.9%
1988	29.3%	47.9%
1989	28.9%	47.6%
1990	28.8%	47.1%
1991	28.6%	46.6%
1992	28.4%	46.8%
1993	28.2%	47.1%
1994	27.8%	46.6%
1995	27.4%	45.9%
1996	27%	45%
1997	26.3%	44%
1998	25.7%	43.1%
1999	25.2%	42.4%
2000	24.5%	41.9%
2001	23.8%	41.5%
2002	22.9%	41.4%
2003	22%	41.5%
2004	21.2%	41.7%
2005	20.3%	41.9%
2006	19.6%	42%
2007	19.2%	42.1%
2008	18.9%	42.4%
2009	18.6%	42.7%
2010	18.5%	43%
2011	18.3%	43.4%
2012	18.3%	43.7%
2013	18.3%	43.9%
2014	18.3%	43.9%
2015	18.3%	43.8%
2016	18.3%	43.6%
2017	18.4%	43.3%
2018	18.3%	42.9%
2019	18.2%	42.5%
2020	18%	42.2%
2021	17.6%	41.9%
2022	17.1%	41.6%
2023	16.6%	41.3%
2024	16%	40.9%
2025	15.4%	40.3%
2026	14.8%	39.6%
2027	14.1%	39%
2028	13.5%	38.4%
2029	12.8%	37.8%
2030	12.1%	37.4%
2031	11.5%	37%
2032	10.8%	36.8%
2033	10.3%	36.5%
2034	9.83%	36.3%
2035	9.53%	36.1%
2036	9.37%	35.8%
2037	9.31%	35.6%
2038	9.31%	35.3%
2039	9.34%	35.1%
2040	9.38%	34.8%
2041	9.43%	34.6%
2042	9.49%	34.3%
2043	9.56%	34.1%
2044	9.63%	33.8%
2045	9.71%	33.5%
2046	9.78%	33.2%
2047	9.85%	32.9%
2048	9.9%	32.6%
2049	9.93%	32.2%
2050	9.94%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16% of the population in China and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 28.8% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of China and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in China vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.31% in China and +2.34% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	-3,048,510	126,959
1961	2,496,047	131,531
1962	17,969,132	136,317
1963	22,742,225	140,984
1964	19,302,532	145,848
1965	20,296,950	151,164
1966	19,282,187	156,014
1967	19,263,662	161,205
1968	21,206,083	166,865
1969	20,760,332	172,626
1970	21,137,076	178,979
1971	19,622,980	185,427
1972	19,102,585	193,725
1973	18,423,727	201,885
1974	15,738,118	208,806
1975	14,378,237	216,947
1976	11,782,472	221,419
1977	11,378,068	225,139
1978	11,473,980	222,979
1979	11,250,148	223,657
1980	11,647,260	241,179
1981	14,461,027	271,361
1982	15,815,318	279,934
1983	13,599,789	286,545
1984	13,561,671	290,052
1985	14,987,830	290,756
1986	16,609,920	289,894
1987	18,005,821	286,766
1988	17,328,640	277,498
1989	16,824,495	270,838
1990	16,335,313	265,444
1991	14,937,124	260,943
1992	13,548,601	255,291
1993	13,493,138	228,045
1994	13,360,470	216,343
1995	12,711,220	206,695
1996	12,686,872	205,269
1997	12,374,554	216,288
1998	11,351,286	225,614
1999	10,247,372	232,393
2000	9,570,849	236,343
2001	8,839,358	227,909
2002	8,258,580	244,170
2003	7,743,284	243,057
2004	7,607,960	248,307
2005	7,678,911	248,545
2006	6,922,185	248,963
2007	6,813,465	261,805
2008	6,729,247	280,527
2009	6,483,236	309,316
2010	6,407,607	335,570
2011	8,245,065	359,572
2012	10,075,174	371,135
2013	8,043,116	374,757
2014	9,205,180	366,350
2015	6,788,911	356,203
2016	9,062,269	348,772
2017	7,790,880	344,035
2018	5,302,433	345,883
2019	4,673,713	348,798
2020	2,046,095	354,790
2021	480,203	349,908
2022	-847,305	371,243
2023	-2,087,851	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: China vs Zimbabwe

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 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	China	Zimbabwe
1985	125	573
1986	120	525
1987	114	480
1988	108	431
1989	104	382
1990	102	353
1991	92	332
1992	86	333
1993	80	331
1994	76	332
1995	71	332
1996	67	352
1997	63	357
1998	60	368
1999	58	399
2000	56	405
2001	52	467
2002	50	418
2003	47	455
2004	45	451
2005	42	454
2006	40	480
2007	38	519
2008	38	526
2009	35	540
2010	34	567
2011	33	564
2012	32	558
2013	30	525
2014	28	468
2015	26	428
2016	25	411
2017	24	389
2018	22	386
2019	21	388
2020	20	380
2021	21	446
2022	18	368
2023	16	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.62% in China and 4.42% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	-	15.2%
1961	-	14.8%
1962	-	14.4%
1963	-	14%
1964	-	13.5%
1965	-	13.1%
1966	-	12.7%
1967	-	12.4%
1968	-	12.1%
1969	11.9%	11.8%
1970	11.3%	11.7%
1971	10.7%	11.5%
1972	10.2%	11.5%
1973	9.61%	11.4%
1974	9.05%	11.4%
1975	8.5%	11.4%
1976	7.97%	11.5%
1977	7.47%	11.5%
1978	7.01%	11.5%
1979	6.62%	11.3%
1980	6.28%	11.1%
1981	6%	10.7%
1982	5.78%	10.1%
1983	5.61%	9.5%
1984	5.5%	8.87%
1985	5.43%	8.31%
1986	5.4%	7.86%
1987	5.4%	7.61%
1988	5.4%	7.55%
1989	5.39%	7.69%
1990	5.37%	7.97%
1991	5.31%	8.33%
1992	5.22%	8.73%
1993	5.08%	9.16%
1994	4.93%	9.52%
1995	4.75%	9.83%
1996	4.56%	10%
1997	4.36%	10.1%
1998	4.14%	10%
1999	3.91%	9.92%
2000	3.67%	9.83%
2001	3.42%	9.79%
2002	3.15%	8.48%
2003	2.89%	8.85%
2004	2.64%	9.17%
2005	2.4%	9.23%
2006	2.19%	9.4%
2007	2.01%	9.47%
2008	1.85%	9.34%
2009	1.71%	9.03%
2010	1.58%	8.5%
2011	1.46%	7.88%
2012	1.35%	7.14%
2013	1.25%	6.55%
2014	1.15%	6.18%
2015	1.07%	5.98%
2016	0.99%	5.69%
2017	0.92%	5.5%
2018	0.86%	5.23%
2019	0.8%	5.11%
2020	0.75%	5.01%
2021	0.7%	4.76%
2022	0.66%	4.6%
2023	0.62%	4.42%