Fertility & birth rates in Congo and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in Congo vs Zimbabwe chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in the Congo was 4.16 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 the Congo 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
	Congo	Zimbabwe
1960	6.09	7.2
1961	6.09	7.21
1962	6.1	7.23
1963	6.15	7.23
1964	6.18	7.23
1965	6.23	7.23
1966	6.27	7.2
1967	6.29	7.16
1968	6.33	7.11
1969	6.35	7.04
1970	6.38	6.98
1971	6.42	6.94
1972	6.44	6.94
1973	6.42	6.94
1974	6.39	6.88
1975	6.36	6.83
1976	6.32	6.77
1977	6.27	6.71
1978	6.21	6.66
1979	6.14	6.59
1980	6.07	6.52
1981	5.98	6.45
1982	5.85	6.33
1983	5.76	6.2
1984	5.66	6.04
1985	5.59	5.87
1986	5.51	5.69
1987	5.46	5.5
1988	5.39	5.28
1989	5.33	5.07
1990	5.27	4.88
1991	5.22	4.72
1992	5.18	4.57
1993	5.13	4.39
1994	5.1	4.28
1995	5.07	4.15
1996	5.03	4.11
1997	5	4.08
1998	4.91	4.07
1999	4.81	4.06
2000	4.72	4.01
2001	4.67	3.98
2002	4.7	3.93
2003	4.7	3.86
2004	4.69	3.78
2005	4.67	3.69
2006	4.65	3.64
2007	4.65	3.68
2008	4.73	3.78
2009	4.81	3.95
2010	4.85	4.04
2011	4.83	4.13
2012	4.79	4.13
2013	4.73	4.11
2014	4.67	4.01
2015	4.61	3.91
2016	4.55	3.83
2017	4.5	3.77
2018	4.44	3.74
2019	4.38	3.75
2020	4.33	3.75
2021	4.28	3.77
2022	4.22	3.77
2023	4.16	3.72
2024	4.11	3.67
2025	4.05	3.62
2026	3.99	3.57
2027	3.93	3.52
2028	3.88	3.47
2029	3.83	3.43
2030	3.78	3.38
2031	3.73	3.33
2032	3.68	3.29
2033	3.64	3.25
2034	3.59	3.21
2035	3.54	3.17
2036	3.5	3.13
2037	3.46	3.09
2038	3.42	3.06
2039	3.38	3.02
2040	3.35	2.99
2041	3.31	2.96
2042	3.27	2.93
2043	3.24	2.9
2044	3.2	2.87
2045	3.16	2.84
2046	3.13	2.81
2047	3.09	2.78
2048	3.06	2.75
2049	3.03	2.72
2050	3	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Congo	Zimbabwe
1960	42.7%	47.3%
1961	43%	47.7%
1962	43.3%	48.1%
1963	43.5%	48.5%
1964	43.7%	48.8%
1965	43.9%	48.7%
1966	44%	48.6%
1967	44.2%	48.5%
1968	44.3%	48.5%
1969	44.5%	48.4%
1970	44.7%	48.3%
1971	44.8%	48.2%
1972	45%	48.2%
1973	45.2%	48.1%
1974	45.4%	48.1%
1975	45.5%	48.1%
1976	45.7%	48.2%
1977	45.8%	48.3%
1978	45.8%	48.5%
1979	45.8%	48.8%
1980	45.7%	48.7%
1981	45.6%	48.4%
1982	45.4%	48.3%
1983	45.2%	48.2%
1984	45%	48.1%
1985	44.9%	48%
1986	44.7%	47.9%
1987	44.6%	47.9%
1988	44.5%	47.9%
1989	44.3%	47.6%
1990	44.2%	47.1%
1991	44%	46.6%
1992	43.8%	46.8%
1993	43.6%	47.1%
1994	43.4%	46.6%
1995	43.3%	45.9%
1996	43.2%	45%
1997	43.3%	44%
1998	43.3%	43.1%
1999	43.1%	42.4%
2000	42.5%	41.9%
2001	41.9%	41.5%
2002	41.9%	41.4%
2003	41.7%	41.5%
2004	41.4%	41.7%
2005	41.1%	41.9%
2006	40.9%	42%
2007	40.7%	42.1%
2008	40.7%	42.4%
2009	40.5%	42.7%
2010	40.4%	43%
2011	40.6%	43.4%
2012	41%	43.7%
2013	41.3%	43.9%
2014	41.7%	43.9%
2015	41.9%	43.8%
2016	42.1%	43.6%
2017	42.1%	43.3%
2018	42.1%	42.9%
2019	41.9%	42.5%
2020	41.8%	42.2%
2021	41.5%	41.9%
2022	41.3%	41.6%
2023	40.9%	41.3%
2024	40.4%	40.9%
2025	39.9%	40.3%
2026	39.4%	39.6%
2027	38.9%	39%
2028	38.4%	38.4%
2029	38%	37.8%
2030	37.6%	37.4%
2031	37.3%	37%
2032	37%	36.8%
2033	36.8%	36.5%
2034	36.6%	36.3%
2035	36.4%	36.1%
2036	36.2%	35.8%
2037	36%	35.6%
2038	35.8%	35.3%
2039	35.6%	35.1%
2040	35.5%	34.8%
2041	35.3%	34.6%
2042	35.1%	34.3%
2043	34.9%	34.1%
2044	34.7%	33.8%
2045	34.4%	33.5%
2046	34.2%	33.2%
2047	33.9%	32.9%
2048	33.6%	32.6%
2049	33.4%	32.2%
2050	33.1%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 40.4% of the population in the Congo and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 44.2% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of the Congo and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in Congo vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.59% in the Congo 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
	Congo	Zimbabwe
1960	27,094	126,959
1961	28,220	131,531
1962	29,342	136,317
1963	30,832	140,984
1964	32,270	145,848
1965	33,865	151,164
1966	35,452	156,014
1967	36,866	161,205
1968	38,786	166,865
1969	40,532	172,626
1970	42,374	178,979
1971	44,431	185,427
1972	46,427	193,725
1973	48,017	201,885
1974	49,563	208,806
1975	51,155	216,947
1976	52,148	221,419
1977	53,179	225,139
1978	53,885	222,979
1979	54,723	223,657
1980	55,550	241,179
1981	56,603	271,361
1982	57,036	279,934
1983	58,120	286,545
1984	59,028	290,052
1985	60,359	290,756
1986	61,669	289,894
1987	63,183	286,766
1988	64,629	277,498
1989	65,944	270,838
1990	67,241	265,444
1991	68,534	260,943
1992	69,973	255,291
1993	71,119	228,045
1994	72,857	216,343
1995	74,189	206,695
1996	75,628	205,269
1997	66,149	216,288
1998	72,450	225,614
1999	76,204	232,393
2000	78,491	236,343
2001	84,876	227,909
2002	88,497	244,170
2003	91,326	243,057
2004	96,577	248,307
2005	101,344	248,545
2006	106,876	248,963
2007	112,459	261,805
2008	120,711	280,527
2009	126,904	309,316
2010	136,908	335,570
2011	140,371	359,572
2012	142,464	371,135
2013	142,080	374,757
2014	141,674	366,350
2015	141,539	356,203
2016	141,358	348,772
2017	141,973	344,035
2018	142,704	345,883
2019	139,513	348,798
2020	143,492	354,790
2021	144,241	349,908
2022	147,076	371,243
2023	150,486	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: Congo vs Zimbabwe

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 241 deaths per 100,000 live births in the Congo, compared to 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Congo	Zimbabwe
1985	546	573
1986	535	525
1987	519	480
1988	510	431
1989	506	382
1990	505	353
1991	514	332
1992	531	333
1993	541	331
1994	551	332
1995	551	332
1996	545	352
1997	650	357
1998	597	368
1999	554	399
2000	509	405
2001	489	467
2002	464	418
2003	436	455
2004	400	451
2005	385	454
2006	394	480
2007	370	519
2008	395	526
2009	414	540
2010	382	567
2011	378	564
2012	374	558
2013	320	525
2014	302	468
2015	284	428
2016	263	411
2017	262	389
2018	259	386
2019	245	388
2020	247	380
2021	301	446
2022	241	368
2023	241	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.05% in the Congo 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
	Congo	Zimbabwe
1960	19.4%	15.2%
1961	18.6%	14.8%
1962	18%	14.4%
1963	17.3%	14%
1964	16.7%	13.5%
1965	16.1%	13.1%
1966	15.6%	12.7%
1967	15.1%	12.4%
1968	14.6%	12.1%
1969	14.2%	11.8%
1970	13.7%	11.7%
1971	13.4%	11.5%
1972	13%	11.5%
1973	12.6%	11.4%
1974	12.4%	11.4%
1975	12.1%	11.4%
1976	11.8%	11.5%
1977	11.5%	11.5%
1978	11.2%	11.5%
1979	11%	11.3%
1980	10.7%	11.1%
1981	10.5%	10.7%
1982	10.2%	10.1%
1983	9.95%	9.5%
1984	9.68%	8.87%
1985	9.44%	8.31%
1986	9.25%	7.86%
1987	9.11%	7.61%
1988	9.04%	7.55%
1989	9.05%	7.69%
1990	9.15%	7.97%
1991	9.31%	8.33%
1992	9.54%	8.73%
1993	9.84%	9.16%
1994	10.2%	9.52%
1995	10.5%	9.83%
1996	10.9%	10%
1997	11.2%	10.1%
1998	11.4%	10%
1999	11.5%	9.92%
2000	11.4%	9.83%
2001	11.1%	9.79%
2002	10.6%	8.48%
2003	10%	8.85%
2004	9.35%	9.17%
2005	8.66%	9.23%
2006	8.02%	9.4%
2007	7.43%	9.47%
2008	6.95%	9.34%
2009	6.55%	9.03%
2010	6.25%	8.5%
2011	6.02%	7.88%
2012	5.82%	7.14%
2013	5.64%	6.55%
2014	5.45%	6.18%
2015	5.27%	5.98%
2016	5.09%	5.69%
2017	4.93%	5.5%
2018	4.77%	5.23%
2019	5.24%	5.11%
2020	4.47%	5.01%
2021	4.33%	4.76%
2022	4.19%	4.6%
2023	4.05%	4.42%