Fertility & birth rates in Costa Rica and Malaysia

Fertility rate in Costa Rica vs Malaysia 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 1.55 in Malaysia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Costa Rica vs Malaysia 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	Malaysia
1960	6.71	6.41
1961	6.65	6.37
1962	6.54	6.3
1963	6.39	6.19
1964	6.19	6.03
1965	5.96	5.84
1966	5.7	5.64
1967	5.42	5.43
1968	5.03	5.29
1969	4.84	5.16
1970	4.59	5.04
1971	4.36	4.92
1972	4.16	4.82
1973	3.99	4.73
1974	3.89	4.62
1975	3.8	4.5
1976	3.75	4.4
1977	3.7	4.28
1978	3.66	4.18
1979	3.65	4.09
1980	3.58	4.04
1981	3.56	4
1982	3.54	3.97
1983	3.53	3.93
1984	3.52	3.89
1985	3.51	3.8
1986	3.45	3.7
1987	3.38	3.57
1988	3.31	3.5
1989	3.24	3.31
1990	3.17	3.3
1991	3.08	3.34
1992	3	3.37
1993	2.93	3.36
1994	2.86	3.35
1995	2.78	3.32
1996	2.68	3.3
1997	2.59	3.23
1998	2.53	3.12
1999	2.48	3.07
2000	2.41	2.94
2001	2.31	2.81
2002	2.16	2.66
2003	2.08	2.6
2004	2.03	2.49
2005	2.04	2.39
2006	1.94	2.31
2007	1.95	2.25
2008	1.98	2.26
2009	1.95	2.22
2010	1.83	2.14
2011	1.88	2.15
2012	1.85	2.12
2013	1.78	2.07
2014	1.8	2.06
2015	1.8	2.01
2016	1.75	1.94
2017	1.71	1.89
2018	1.71	1.84
2019	1.6	1.78
2020	1.45	1.68
2021	1.35	1.56
2022	1.34	1.55
2023	1.33	1.55
2024	1.32	1.54
2025	1.31	1.53
2026	1.31	1.52
2027	1.31	1.51
2028	1.3	1.51
2029	1.31	1.51
2030	1.31	1.51
2031	1.31	1.5
2032	1.32	1.5
2033	1.32	1.5
2034	1.32	1.5
2035	1.33	1.5
2036	1.33	1.51
2037	1.34	1.51
2038	1.34	1.51
2039	1.35	1.51
2040	1.35	1.51
2041	1.35	1.51
2042	1.36	1.51
2043	1.36	1.52
2044	1.37	1.52
2045	1.37	1.52
2046	1.37	1.52
2047	1.38	1.52
2048	1.38	1.53
2049	1.38	1.53
2050	1.38	1.53

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Costa Rica	Malaysia
1960	46.4%	45.4%
1961	46.6%	45.9%
1962	46.7%	46.3%
1963	46.7%	46.5%
1964	46.6%	46.6%
1965	46.5%	46.5%
1966	46.3%	46.2%
1967	45.9%	45.9%
1968	45.5%	45.5%
1969	45%	45%
1970	44.4%	44.5%
1971	43.8%	44%
1972	43.1%	43.4%
1973	42.3%	42.8%
1974	41.5%	42.2%
1975	40.8%	41.7%
1976	40%	41.1%
1977	39.2%	40.6%
1978	38.6%	40.1%
1979	38%	39.6%
1980	37.5%	39.2%
1981	37.1%	38.8%
1982	36.7%	38.6%
1983	36.5%	38.4%
1984	36.4%	38.2%
1985	36.3%	38.1%
1986	36.3%	38%
1987	36.2%	37.9%
1988	36.2%	37.7%
1989	36.1%	37.5%
1990	36%	37.2%
1991	35.7%	36.9%
1992	35.4%	36.6%
1993	35%	36.3%
1994	34.6%	36%
1995	34.1%	35.7%
1996	33.6%	35.5%
1997	33%	35.3%
1998	32.4%	35%
1999	31.8%	34.6%
2000	31.1%	34.2%
2001	30.5%	33.7%
2002	29.8%	33.2%
2003	29.1%	32.6%
2004	28.4%	32%
2005	27.7%	31.4%
2006	27.1%	30.7%
2007	26.5%	30%
2008	25.9%	29.4%
2009	25.4%	28.6%
2010	24.9%	27.9%
2011	24.3%	27.4%
2012	23.9%	27%
2013	23.4%	26.6%
2014	23%	26.2%
2015	22.5%	25.8%
2016	22.1%	25.5%
2017	21.8%	25.2%
2018	21.4%	24.9%
2019	21.1%	24.5%
2020	20.7%	24%
2021	20.3%	23.4%
2022	19.8%	22.8%
2023	19.3%	22.3%
2024	18.8%	21.8%
2025	18.3%	21.3%
2026	17.8%	20.8%
2027	17.3%	20.4%
2028	16.9%	19.9%
2029	16.4%	19.4%
2030	16%	19%
2031	15.5%	18.5%
2032	15.1%	18.1%
2033	14.7%	17.8%
2034	14.4%	17.6%
2035	14.1%	17.4%
2036	13.9%	17.3%
2037	13.8%	17.3%
2038	13.7%	17.2%
2039	13.6%	17.1%
2040	13.5%	17%
2041	13.4%	17%
2042	13.3%	16.9%
2043	13.2%	16.8%
2044	13.2%	16.7%
2045	13.1%	16.7%
2046	13%	16.6%
2047	12.9%	16.5%
2048	12.8%	16.4%
2049	12.7%	16.3%
2050	12.6%	16.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.8% of the population in Costa Rica and 21.8% in Malaysia in 2024, compared to 36% and 37.2% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Costa Rica and Malaysia compared.

Natural population change in Costa Rica vs Malaysia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.74% in Costa Rica and +0.92% in Malaysia. 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	Malaysia
1960	48,857	251,090
1961	50,149	257,270
1962	51,046	262,140
1963	51,403	265,815
1964	51,435	266,406
1965	51,196	264,836
1966	50,755	262,162
1967	50,193	258,764
1968	48,361	260,705
1969	48,790	264,327
1970	48,398	269,341
1971	48,341	272,323
1972	48,417	276,263
1973	48,943	284,611
1974	50,349	289,880
1975	51,979	294,541
1976	54,019	300,615
1977	56,122	305,515
1978	58,327	311,027
1979	60,984	317,439
1980	62,561	326,947
1981	64,632	339,991
1982	66,826	353,138
1983	68,972	365,290
1984	71,062	376,797
1985	72,776	383,243
1986	73,211	385,799
1987	73,188	381,999
1988	72,944	386,507
1989	72,327	373,277
1990	71,727	384,518
1991	70,506	401,938
1992	69,830	418,900
1993	69,016	429,910
1994	68,336	437,873
1995	67,585	443,349
1996	66,094	450,174
1997	64,954	447,768
1998	64,788	436,316
1999	64,922	432,355
2000	64,268	417,371
2001	62,199	400,939
2002	58,388	381,084
2003	56,743	377,425
2004	55,769	365,138
2005	57,139	355,324
2006	54,177	349,509
2007	55,244	348,711
2008	56,491	362,380
2009	55,757	366,157
2010	50,803	360,260
2011	52,884	372,836
2012	52,036	371,497
2013	49,227	366,738
2014	49,559	367,587
2015	49,077	358,302
2016	45,565	345,681
2017	43,471	336,434
2018	42,469	324,568
2019	37,682	309,426
2020	29,164	283,282
2021	20,119	212,002
2022	21,409	237,560
2023	24,109	254,806

Maternal mortality chart: Costa Rica vs Malaysia

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 26 deaths in Malaysia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Costa Rica	Malaysia
1985	43	63
1986	42	59
1987	41	56
1988	40	55
1989	40	52
1990	40	51
1991	39	49
1992	39	48
1993	39	46
1994	39	44
1995	39	43
1996	39	42
1997	38	40
1998	37	39
1999	36	38
2000	36	37
2001	35	36
2002	34	34
2003	33	34
2004	33	33
2005	31	31
2006	30	30
2007	30	30
2008	30	29
2009	29	29
2010	29	29
2011	28	29
2012	27	29
2013	27	29
2014	27	30
2015	26	30
2016	27	30
2017	27	29
2018	28	29
2019	26	28
2020	34	29
2021	44	52
2022	27	38
2023	24	26

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.05% in Costa Rica and 0.81% in Malaysia. 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	Malaysia
1960	9.62%	9.46%
1961	9.36%	8.83%
1962	9.27%	8.25%
1963	9.25%	7.74%
1964	9.18%	7.28%
1965	9.02%	6.89%
1966	8.78%	6.56%
1967	8.49%	6.27%
1968	8.17%	6.02%
1969	7.85%	5.79%
1970	7.48%	5.56%
1971	7.02%	5.32%
1972	6.45%	5.06%
1973	5.82%	4.79%
1974	5.17%	4.5%
1975	4.54%	4.23%
1976	3.93%	3.97%
1977	3.39%	3.71%
1978	2.96%	3.48%
1979	2.65%	3.25%
1980	2.45%	3.04%
1981	2.33%	2.84%
1982	2.29%	2.65%
1983	2.27%	2.47%
1984	2.25%	2.32%
1985	2.2%	2.18%
1986	2.12%	2.05%
1987	2.01%	1.93%
1988	1.89%	1.83%
1989	1.78%	1.74%
1990	1.69%	1.66%
1991	1.62%	1.58%
1992	1.57%	1.51%
1993	1.53%	1.45%
1994	1.51%	1.39%
1995	1.49%	1.34%
1996	1.47%	1.29%
1997	1.45%	1.23%
1998	1.41%	1.15%
1999	1.36%	1.07%
2000	1.31%	1%
2001	1.26%	0.93%
2002	1.22%	0.88%
2003	1.18%	0.85%
2004	1.15%	0.84%
2005	1.13%	0.83%
2006	1.12%	0.83%
2007	1.11%	0.82%
2008	1.09%	0.82%
2009	1.07%	0.82%
2010	1.05%	0.81%
2011	1.02%	0.81%
2012	0.98%	0.8%
2013	0.95%	0.81%
2014	0.92%	0.81%
2015	0.9%	0.81%
2016	0.89%	0.82%
2017	0.89%	0.82%
2018	0.89%	0.82%
2019	0.91%	0.82%
2020	0.94%	0.81%
2021	0.97%	0.81%
2022	1.01%	0.81%
2023	1.05%	0.81%