Fertility & birth rates in Costa Rica and Gambia

Fertility rate in Costa Rica vs Gambia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Costa Rica was 1.33 children per woman in 2023, compared to 4.01 in the Gambia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Costa Rica vs the Gambia population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Costa Rica	Gambia
1960	6.71	6.25
1961	6.65	6.23
1962	6.54	6.21
1963	6.39	6.2
1964	6.19	6.2
1965	5.96	6.19
1966	5.7	6.18
1967	5.42	6.21
1968	5.03	6.22
1969	4.84	6.25
1970	4.59	6.26
1971	4.36	6.33
1972	4.16	6.37
1973	3.99	6.41
1974	3.89	6.42
1975	3.8	6.43
1976	3.75	6.43
1977	3.7	6.43
1978	3.66	6.42
1979	3.65	6.41
1980	3.58	6.41
1981	3.56	6.4
1982	3.54	6.4
1983	3.53	6.39
1984	3.52	6.39
1985	3.51	6.36
1986	3.45	6.34
1987	3.38	6.3
1988	3.31	6.26
1989	3.24	6.25
1990	3.17	6.25
1991	3.08	6.19
1992	3	6.11
1993	2.93	6.03
1994	2.86	6.04
1995	2.78	5.99
1996	2.68	5.93
1997	2.59	5.85
1998	2.53	5.82
1999	2.48	5.77
2000	2.41	5.72
2001	2.31	5.67
2002	2.16	5.66
2003	2.08	5.66
2004	2.03	5.68
2005	2.04	5.71
2006	1.94	5.74
2007	1.95	5.69
2008	1.98	5.63
2009	1.95	5.57
2010	1.83	5.56
2011	1.88	5.54
2012	1.85	5.52
2013	1.78	5.39
2014	1.8	5.2
2015	1.8	5
2016	1.75	4.81
2017	1.71	4.61
2018	1.71	4.42
2019	1.6	4.33
2020	1.45	4.25
2021	1.35	4.17
2022	1.34	4.08
2023	1.33	4.01
2024	1.32	3.91
2025	1.31	3.8
2026	1.31	3.7
2027	1.31	3.6
2028	1.3	3.51
2029	1.31	3.41
2030	1.31	3.33
2031	1.31	3.24
2032	1.32	3.17
2033	1.32	3.1
2034	1.32	3.03
2035	1.33	2.97
2036	1.33	2.91
2037	1.34	2.86
2038	1.34	2.81
2039	1.35	2.76
2040	1.35	2.71
2041	1.35	2.67
2042	1.36	2.63
2043	1.36	2.59
2044	1.37	2.56
2045	1.37	2.52
2046	1.37	2.49
2047	1.38	2.46
2048	1.38	2.43
2049	1.38	2.4
2050	1.38	2.38

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Costa Rica	Gambia
1960	46.4%	41%
1961	46.6%	40.8%
1962	46.7%	40.7%
1963	46.7%	40.8%
1964	46.6%	41%
1965	46.5%	41.3%
1966	46.3%	41.5%
1967	45.9%	41.6%
1968	45.5%	41.8%
1969	45%	41.9%
1970	44.4%	42%
1971	43.8%	42.1%
1972	43.1%	42.2%
1973	42.3%	42.3%
1974	41.5%	42.4%
1975	40.8%	42.6%
1976	40%	42.8%
1977	39.2%	43%
1978	38.6%	43.3%
1979	38%	43.5%
1980	37.5%	43.7%
1981	37.1%	44%
1982	36.7%	44.3%
1983	36.5%	44.6%
1984	36.4%	44.9%
1985	36.3%	45%
1986	36.3%	45.2%
1987	36.2%	45.4%
1988	36.2%	45.5%
1989	36.1%	45.6%
1990	36%	45.7%
1991	35.7%	45.8%
1992	35.4%	45.9%
1993	35%	46%
1994	34.6%	46.3%
1995	34.1%	46.5%
1996	33.6%	46.7%
1997	33%	46.9%
1998	32.4%	46.9%
1999	31.8%	46.9%
2000	31.1%	46.8%
2001	30.5%	46.7%
2002	29.8%	46.6%
2003	29.1%	46.4%
2004	28.4%	46.1%
2005	27.7%	45.9%
2006	27.1%	45.6%
2007	26.5%	45.3%
2008	25.9%	45.1%
2009	25.4%	44.8%
2010	24.9%	44.5%
2011	24.3%	44.3%
2012	23.9%	44.1%
2013	23.4%	43.9%
2014	23%	43.7%
2015	22.5%	43.6%
2016	22.1%	43.3%
2017	21.8%	43.1%
2018	21.4%	42.8%
2019	21.1%	42.4%
2020	20.7%	42%
2021	20.3%	41.6%
2022	19.8%	41.2%
2023	19.3%	40.7%
2024	18.8%	40.2%
2025	18.3%	39.7%
2026	17.8%	39.2%
2027	17.3%	38.5%
2028	16.9%	37.9%
2029	16.4%	37.3%
2030	16%	36.7%
2031	15.5%	36.2%
2032	15.1%	35.7%
2033	14.7%	35.2%
2034	14.4%	34.8%
2035	14.1%	34.3%
2036	13.9%	33.9%
2037	13.8%	33.4%
2038	13.7%	33%
2039	13.6%	32.5%
2040	13.5%	32.1%
2041	13.4%	31.7%
2042	13.3%	31.3%
2043	13.2%	30.9%
2044	13.2%	30.5%
2045	13.1%	30.2%
2046	13%	29.8%
2047	12.9%	29.5%
2048	12.8%	29.1%
2049	12.7%	28.8%
2050	12.6%	28.4%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.8% of the population in Costa Rica and 40.2% in the Gambia in 2024, compared to 36% and 45.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Costa Rica and the Gambia compared.

Natural population change in Costa Rica vs Gambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.74% in Costa Rica and +2.59% in the Gambia. 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
	Costa Rica	Gambia
1960	48,857	8,420
1961	50,149	8,778
1962	51,046	9,150
1963	51,403	9,493
1964	51,435	9,825
1965	51,196	10,162
1966	50,755	10,422
1967	50,193	10,823
1968	48,361	11,215
1969	48,790	11,670
1970	48,398	12,128
1971	48,341	12,842
1972	48,417	13,432
1973	48,943	14,046
1974	50,349	14,628
1975	51,979	15,256
1976	54,019	16,032
1977	56,122	16,773
1978	58,327	17,424
1979	60,984	18,543
1980	62,561	19,566
1981	64,632	20,156
1982	66,826	21,894
1983	68,972	23,175
1984	71,062	24,586
1985	72,776	25,795
1986	73,211	27,195
1987	73,188	28,452
1988	72,944	29,938
1989	72,327	31,504
1990	71,727	33,163
1991	70,506	34,584
1992	69,830	35,951
1993	69,016	37,302
1994	68,336	38,880
1995	67,585	39,681
1996	66,094	40,253
1997	64,954	40,742
1998	64,788	41,842
1999	64,922	42,533
2000	64,268	43,249
2001	62,199	44,154
2002	58,388	45,156
2003	56,743	46,473
2004	55,769	48,276
2005	57,139	50,010
2006	54,177	52,335
2007	55,244	53,653
2008	56,491	55,032
2009	55,757	56,575
2010	50,803	58,554
2011	52,884	60,571
2012	52,036	62,745
2013	49,227	63,510
2014	49,559	63,185
2015	49,077	62,832
2016	45,565	62,358
2017	43,471	61,665
2018	42,469	60,854
2019	37,682	61,701
2020	29,164	62,209
2021	20,119	62,239
2022	21,409	63,634
2023	24,109	65,118

Maternal mortality chart: Costa Rica vs Gambia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 24 deaths per 100,000 live births in Costa Rica, compared to 354 deaths in the Gambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Costa Rica	Gambia
1985	43	1,454
1986	42	1,401
1987	41	1,360
1988	40	1,302
1989	40	1,258
1990	40	1,207
1991	39	1,167
1992	39	1,115
1993	39	1,072
1994	39	1,039
1995	39	999
1996	39	956
1997	38	928
1998	37	867
1999	36	830
2000	36	810
2001	35	794
2002	34	772
2003	33	749
2004	33	719
2005	31	707
2006	30	682
2007	30	675
2008	30	653
2009	29	634
2010	29	632
2011	28	634
2012	27	628
2013	27	606
2014	27	561
2015	26	527
2016	27	490
2017	27	469
2018	28	450
2019	26	422
2020	34	400
2021	44	420
2022	27	365
2023	24	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.05% in Costa Rica and 4.41% in the Gambia. 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
	Costa Rica	Gambia
1960	9.62%	36.2%
1961	9.36%	35.5%
1962	9.27%	34.8%
1963	9.25%	34.1%
1964	9.18%	33.5%
1965	9.02%	32.8%
1966	8.78%	32.1%
1967	8.49%	31.5%
1968	8.17%	30.9%
1969	7.85%	30.2%
1970	7.48%	29.5%
1971	7.02%	28.9%
1972	6.45%	28.2%
1973	5.82%	27.5%
1974	5.17%	26.9%
1975	4.54%	26.2%
1976	3.93%	25.5%
1977	3.39%	24.9%
1978	2.96%	24.2%
1979	2.65%	23.6%
1980	2.45%	23%
1981	2.33%	22.3%
1982	2.29%	21.7%
1983	2.27%	21%
1984	2.25%	20.4%
1985	2.2%	19.7%
1986	2.12%	19.1%
1987	2.01%	18.4%
1988	1.89%	17.8%
1989	1.78%	17.2%
1990	1.69%	16.6%
1991	1.62%	16%
1992	1.57%	15.5%
1993	1.53%	14.9%
1994	1.51%	14.4%
1995	1.49%	13.9%
1996	1.47%	13.3%
1997	1.45%	12.8%
1998	1.41%	12.3%
1999	1.36%	11.8%
2000	1.31%	11.3%
2001	1.26%	10.9%
2002	1.22%	10.4%
2003	1.18%	9.95%
2004	1.15%	9.52%
2005	1.13%	9.11%
2006	1.12%	8.71%
2007	1.11%	8.33%
2008	1.09%	7.98%
2009	1.07%	7.64%
2010	1.05%	7.31%
2011	1.02%	7.01%
2012	0.98%	6.73%
2013	0.95%	6.45%
2014	0.92%	6.18%
2015	0.9%	5.93%
2016	0.89%	5.7%
2017	0.89%	5.47%
2018	0.89%	5.27%
2019	0.91%	5.07%
2020	0.94%	4.89%
2021	0.97%	4.72%
2022	1.01%	4.56%
2023	1.05%	4.41%