Fertility & birth rates in Costa Rica and Mexico

Fertility rate in Costa Rica vs Mexico 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 1.91 in Mexico in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Costa Rica vs Mexico 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	Mexico
1960	6.71	6.76
1961	6.65	6.78
1962	6.54	6.8
1963	6.39	6.82
1964	6.19	6.83
1965	5.96	6.82
1966	5.7	6.79
1967	5.42	6.75
1968	5.03	6.71
1969	4.84	6.63
1970	4.59	6.53
1971	4.36	6.42
1972	4.16	6.28
1973	3.99	6.12
1974	3.89	5.95
1975	3.8	5.74
1976	3.75	5.54
1977	3.7	5.36
1978	3.66	5.2
1979	3.65	4.96
1980	3.58	4.74
1981	3.56	4.57
1982	3.54	4.43
1983	3.53	4.3
1984	3.52	4.18
1985	3.51	4.09
1986	3.45	3.97
1987	3.38	3.8
1988	3.31	3.64
1989	3.24	3.53
1990	3.17	3.44
1991	3.08	3.36
1992	3	3.29
1993	2.93	3.21
1994	2.86	3.13
1995	2.78	3.04
1996	2.68	2.96
1997	2.59	2.89
1998	2.53	2.82
1999	2.48	2.76
2000	2.41	2.71
2001	2.31	2.67
2002	2.16	2.63
2003	2.08	2.58
2004	2.03	2.54
2005	2.04	2.5
2006	1.94	2.46
2007	1.95	2.42
2008	1.98	2.39
2009	1.95	2.36
2010	1.83	2.34
2011	1.88	2.32
2012	1.85	2.29
2013	1.78	2.27
2014	1.8	2.21
2015	1.8	2.14
2016	1.75	2.09
2017	1.71	2.04
2018	1.71	2.03
2019	1.6	2.02
2020	1.45	1.99
2021	1.35	1.97
2022	1.34	1.94
2023	1.33	1.91
2024	1.32	1.89
2025	1.31	1.87
2026	1.31	1.85
2027	1.31	1.83
2028	1.3	1.82
2029	1.31	1.81
2030	1.31	1.79
2031	1.31	1.78
2032	1.32	1.77
2033	1.32	1.77
2034	1.32	1.76
2035	1.33	1.76
2036	1.33	1.75
2037	1.34	1.75
2038	1.34	1.74
2039	1.35	1.74
2040	1.35	1.73
2041	1.35	1.73
2042	1.36	1.72
2043	1.36	1.72
2044	1.37	1.72
2045	1.37	1.71
2046	1.37	1.71
2047	1.38	1.71
2048	1.38	1.7
2049	1.38	1.7
2050	1.38	1.7

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Costa Rica	Mexico
1960	46.4%	46.8%
1961	46.6%	47%
1962	46.7%	47.1%
1963	46.7%	47.2%
1964	46.6%	47.3%
1965	46.5%	47.4%
1966	46.3%	47.5%
1967	45.9%	47.6%
1968	45.5%	47.6%
1969	45%	47.7%
1970	44.4%	47.7%
1971	43.8%	47.8%
1972	43.1%	47.7%
1973	42.3%	47.7%
1974	41.5%	47.6%
1975	40.8%	47.5%
1976	40%	47.2%
1977	39.2%	47%
1978	38.6%	46.7%
1979	38%	46.3%
1980	37.5%	45.8%
1981	37.1%	45.2%
1982	36.7%	44.4%
1983	36.5%	43.7%
1984	36.4%	43%
1985	36.3%	42.3%
1986	36.3%	41.6%
1987	36.2%	41%
1988	36.2%	40.3%
1989	36.1%	39.7%
1990	36%	39%
1991	35.7%	38.4%
1992	35.4%	37.8%
1993	35%	37.3%
1994	34.6%	36.9%
1995	34.1%	36.5%
1996	33.6%	36%
1997	33%	35.6%
1998	32.4%	35.2%
1999	31.8%	34.8%
2000	31.1%	34.3%
2001	30.5%	33.9%
2002	29.8%	33.4%
2003	29.1%	33%
2004	28.4%	32.5%
2005	27.7%	32.1%
2006	27.1%	31.6%
2007	26.5%	31.1%
2008	25.9%	30.6%
2009	25.4%	30.2%
2010	24.9%	29.8%
2011	24.3%	29.4%
2012	23.9%	29%
2013	23.4%	28.7%
2014	23%	28.3%
2015	22.5%	28%
2016	22.1%	27.6%
2017	21.8%	27.2%
2018	21.4%	26.7%
2019	21.1%	26.3%
2020	20.7%	26%
2021	20.3%	25.7%
2022	19.8%	25.3%
2023	19.3%	24.9%
2024	18.8%	24.5%
2025	18.3%	24.1%
2026	17.8%	23.7%
2027	17.3%	23.2%
2028	16.9%	22.8%
2029	16.4%	22.4%
2030	16%	22.1%
2031	15.5%	21.7%
2032	15.1%	21.4%
2033	14.7%	21.2%
2034	14.4%	20.9%
2035	14.1%	20.6%
2036	13.9%	20.3%
2037	13.8%	20.1%
2038	13.7%	19.9%
2039	13.6%	19.6%
2040	13.5%	19.4%
2041	13.4%	19.2%
2042	13.3%	19%
2043	13.2%	18.8%
2044	13.2%	18.6%
2045	13.1%	18.4%
2046	13%	18.2%
2047	12.9%	18%
2048	12.8%	17.8%
2049	12.7%	17.7%
2050	12.6%	17.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.8% of the population in Costa Rica and 24.5% in Mexico in 2024, compared to 36% and 39% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Costa Rica and Mexico compared.

Natural population change in Costa Rica vs Mexico by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.74% in Costa Rica and +1.05% in Mexico. 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	Mexico
1960	48,857	1,206,955
1961	50,149	1,265,833
1962	51,046	1,328,319
1963	51,403	1,387,678
1964	51,435	1,447,360
1965	51,196	1,508,344
1966	50,755	1,566,170
1967	50,193	1,620,534
1968	48,361	1,671,918
1969	48,790	1,711,297
1970	48,398	1,753,370
1971	48,341	1,790,990
1972	48,417	1,823,302
1973	48,943	1,845,593
1974	50,349	1,868,809
1975	51,979	1,880,241
1976	54,019	1,891,958
1977	56,122	1,902,964
1978	58,327	1,921,419
1979	60,984	1,908,018
1980	62,561	1,893,158
1981	64,632	1,904,384
1982	66,826	1,921,772
1983	68,972	1,939,193
1984	71,062	1,960,428
1985	72,776	1,983,622
1986	73,211	1,998,043
1987	73,188	1,971,231
1988	72,944	1,936,601
1989	72,327	1,927,752
1990	71,727	1,926,480
1991	70,506	1,942,832
1992	69,830	1,956,659
1993	69,016	1,963,708
1994	68,336	1,959,775
1995	67,585	1,941,458
1996	66,094	1,922,554
1997	64,954	1,898,383
1998	64,788	1,871,650
1999	64,922	1,859,475
2000	64,268	1,845,383
2001	62,199	1,836,418
2002	58,388	1,820,665
2003	56,743	1,788,016
2004	55,769	1,759,250
2005	57,139	1,732,663
2006	54,177	1,706,084
2007	55,244	1,684,915
2008	56,491	1,670,846
2009	55,757	1,661,180
2010	50,803	1,658,682
2011	52,884	1,659,161
2012	52,036	1,656,599
2013	49,227	1,642,609
2014	49,559	1,587,620
2015	49,077	1,508,439
2016	45,565	1,445,256
2017	43,471	1,384,178
2018	42,469	1,366,076
2019	37,682	1,357,485
2020	29,164	1,031,637
2021	20,119	936,682
2022	21,409	1,224,397
2023	24,109	1,238,366

Maternal mortality chart: Costa Rica vs Mexico

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 42 deaths in Mexico.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Costa Rica	Mexico
1985	43	107
1986	42	100
1987	41	93
1988	40	88
1989	40	85
1990	40	81
1991	39	77
1992	39	73
1993	39	71
1994	39	69
1995	39	66
1996	39	64
1997	38	62
1998	37	60
1999	36	58
2000	36	56
2001	35	55
2002	34	55
2003	33	54
2004	33	53
2005	31	52
2006	30	51
2007	30	50
2008	30	51
2009	29	51
2010	29	50
2011	28	47
2012	27	46
2013	27	45
2014	27	44
2015	26	43
2016	27	43
2017	27	44
2018	28	44
2019	26	43
2020	34	61
2021	44	104
2022	27	45
2023	24	42

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.05% in Costa Rica and 1.25% in Mexico. 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	Mexico
1960	9.62%	15.5%
1961	9.36%	14.8%
1962	9.27%	14.3%
1963	9.25%	13.7%
1964	9.18%	13.2%
1965	9.02%	12.7%
1966	8.78%	12.3%
1967	8.49%	11.9%
1968	8.17%	11.5%
1969	7.85%	11.1%
1970	7.48%	10.7%
1971	7.02%	10.3%
1972	6.45%	9.93%
1973	5.82%	9.56%
1974	5.17%	9.21%
1975	4.54%	8.86%
1976	3.93%	8.52%
1977	3.39%	8.18%
1978	2.96%	7.85%
1979	2.65%	7.51%
1980	2.45%	7.18%
1981	2.33%	6.86%
1982	2.29%	6.55%
1983	2.27%	6.26%
1984	2.25%	5.98%
1985	2.2%	5.71%
1986	2.12%	5.46%
1987	2.01%	5.21%
1988	1.89%	4.98%
1989	1.78%	4.75%
1990	1.69%	4.53%
1991	1.62%	4.32%
1992	1.57%	4.12%
1993	1.53%	3.92%
1994	1.51%	3.74%
1995	1.49%	3.57%
1996	1.47%	3.4%
1997	1.45%	3.24%
1998	1.41%	3.09%
1999	1.36%	2.94%
2000	1.31%	2.81%
2001	1.26%	2.68%
2002	1.22%	2.57%
2003	1.18%	2.46%
2004	1.15%	2.36%
2005	1.13%	2.27%
2006	1.12%	2.19%
2007	1.11%	2.11%
2008	1.09%	2.04%
2009	1.07%	1.98%
2010	1.05%	1.91%
2011	1.02%	1.85%
2012	0.98%	1.79%
2013	0.95%	1.73%
2014	0.92%	1.68%
2015	0.9%	1.62%
2016	0.89%	1.57%
2017	0.89%	1.52%
2018	0.89%	1.47%
2019	0.91%	1.42%
2020	0.94%	1.38%
2021	0.97%	1.33%
2022	1.01%	1.29%
2023	1.05%	1.25%