Fertility & birth rates in Costa Rica and New Zealand

Fertility rate in Costa Rica vs New Zealand 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 1.56 in New Zealand in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Costa Rica vs New Zealand 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	New Zealand
1960	6.71	4.24
1961	6.65	4.31
1962	6.54	4.19
1963	6.39	4.05
1964	6.19	3.8
1965	5.96	3.54
1966	5.7	3.41
1967	5.42	3.35
1968	5.03	3.34
1969	4.84	3.28
1970	4.59	3.17
1971	4.36	3.18
1972	4.16	3
1973	3.99	2.76
1974	3.89	2.58
1975	3.8	2.37
1976	3.75	2.27
1977	3.7	2.21
1978	3.66	2.07
1979	3.65	2.12
1980	3.58	2.03
1981	3.56	2.01
1982	3.54	1.95
1983	3.53	1.92
1984	3.52	1.93
1985	3.51	1.93
1986	3.45	1.96
1987	3.38	2.03
1988	3.31	2.1
1989	3.24	2.12
1990	3.17	2.18
1991	3.08	2.09
1992	3	2.06
1993	2.93	2.04
1994	2.86	1.98
1995	2.78	1.98
1996	2.68	1.96
1997	2.59	1.96
1998	2.53	1.89
1999	2.48	1.97
2000	2.41	1.98
2001	2.31	1.97
2002	2.16	1.89
2003	2.08	1.93
2004	2.03	1.98
2005	2.04	1.97
2006	1.94	2.01
2007	1.95	2.18
2008	1.98	2.19
2009	1.95	2.13
2010	1.83	2.17
2011	1.88	2.09
2012	1.85	2.1
2013	1.78	2.01
2014	1.8	1.92
2015	1.8	1.99
2016	1.75	1.87
2017	1.71	1.81
2018	1.71	1.71
2019	1.6	1.72
2020	1.45	1.61
2021	1.35	1.64
2022	1.34	1.66
2023	1.33	1.56
2024	1.32	1.55
2025	1.31	1.54
2026	1.31	1.53
2027	1.31	1.53
2028	1.3	1.52
2029	1.31	1.52
2030	1.31	1.52
2031	1.31	1.52
2032	1.32	1.52
2033	1.32	1.51
2034	1.32	1.51
2035	1.33	1.51
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	1.51
2044	1.37	1.51
2045	1.37	1.51
2046	1.37	1.51
2047	1.38	1.51
2048	1.38	1.51
2049	1.38	1.51
2050	1.38	1.51

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Costa Rica	New Zealand
1960	46.4%	32.8%
1961	46.6%	33%
1962	46.7%	33%
1963	46.7%	32.9%
1964	46.6%	32.9%
1965	46.5%	32.7%
1966	46.3%	32.6%
1967	45.9%	32.5%
1968	45.5%	32.3%
1969	45%	32.2%
1970	44.4%	31.9%
1971	43.8%	31.7%
1972	43.1%	31.4%
1973	42.3%	31%
1974	41.5%	30.5%
1975	40.8%	30.1%
1976	40%	29.6%
1977	39.2%	29%
1978	38.6%	28.4%
1979	38%	27.8%
1980	37.5%	27.2%
1981	37.1%	26.7%
1982	36.7%	26.2%
1983	36.5%	25.6%
1984	36.4%	25.1%
1985	36.3%	24.6%
1986	36.3%	24.2%
1987	36.2%	23.8%
1988	36.2%	23.5%
1989	36.1%	23.3%
1990	36%	23.3%
1991	35.7%	23.2%
1992	35.4%	23.1%
1993	35%	23.1%
1994	34.6%	23.1%
1995	34.1%	23.1%
1996	33.6%	23%
1997	33%	23%
1998	32.4%	23%
1999	31.8%	22.9%
2000	31.1%	22.8%
2001	30.5%	22.6%
2002	29.8%	22.4%
2003	29.1%	22.1%
2004	28.4%	21.8%
2005	27.7%	21.5%
2006	27.1%	21.3%
2007	26.5%	21.1%
2008	25.9%	21%
2009	25.4%	20.9%
2010	24.9%	20.9%
2011	24.3%	20.8%
2012	23.9%	20.6%
2013	23.4%	20.4%
2014	23%	20.2%
2015	22.5%	19.9%
2016	22.1%	19.6%
2017	21.8%	19.5%
2018	21.4%	19.3%
2019	21.1%	19.2%
2020	20.7%	19%
2021	20.3%	18.9%
2022	19.8%	18.6%
2023	19.3%	18.4%
2024	18.8%	18.1%
2025	18.3%	17.9%
2026	17.8%	17.6%
2027	17.3%	17.4%
2028	16.9%	17.2%
2029	16.4%	17%
2030	16%	16.8%
2031	15.5%	16.6%
2032	15.1%	16.4%
2033	14.7%	16.3%
2034	14.4%	16.1%
2035	14.1%	16%
2036	13.9%	15.9%
2037	13.8%	15.8%
2038	13.7%	15.7%
2039	13.6%	15.6%
2040	13.5%	15.5%
2041	13.4%	15.4%
2042	13.3%	15.4%
2043	13.2%	15.4%
2044	13.2%	15.3%
2045	13.1%	15.3%
2046	13%	15.3%
2047	12.9%	15.3%
2048	12.8%	15.3%
2049	12.7%	15.2%
2050	12.6%	15.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.8% of the population in Costa Rica and 18.1% in New Zealand in 2024, compared to 36% and 23.3% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Costa Rica and New Zealand compared.

Natural population change in Costa Rica vs New Zealand by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.74% in Costa Rica and +0.51% in New Zealand. 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	New Zealand
1960	48,857	41,791
1961	50,149	43,482
1962	51,046	42,865
1963	51,403	42,027
1964	51,435	39,375
1965	51,196	36,982
1966	50,755	36,151
1967	50,193	37,974
1968	48,361	37,594
1969	48,790	38,098
1970	48,398	37,101
1971	48,341	40,000
1972	48,417	38,244
1973	48,943	35,239
1974	50,349	33,896
1975	51,979	31,355
1976	54,019	29,456
1977	56,122	28,020
1978	58,327	26,156
1979	60,984	26,675
1980	62,561	23,658
1981	64,632	25,374
1982	66,826	24,207
1983	68,972	24,315
1984	71,062	26,043
1985	72,776	24,126
1986	73,211	25,549
1987	73,188	27,603
1988	72,944	29,846
1989	72,327	30,749
1990	71,727	33,298
1991	70,506	33,518
1992	69,830	32,067
1993	69,016	31,685
1994	68,336	30,372
1995	67,585	29,828
1996	66,094	28,997
1997	64,954	30,137
1998	64,788	29,146
1999	64,922	28,916
2000	64,268	29,897
2001	62,199	27,939
2002	58,388	25,941
2003	56,743	28,150
2004	55,769	29,634
2005	57,139	30,674
2006	54,177	30,924
2007	55,244	35,480
2008	56,491	35,143
2009	55,757	33,560
2010	50,803	35,458
2011	52,884	31,302
2012	52,036	31,077
2013	49,227	29,096
2014	49,559	26,196
2015	49,077	29,408
2016	45,565	28,237
2017	43,471	26,282
2018	42,469	24,797
2019	37,682	25,344
2020	29,164	24,993
2021	20,119	23,767
2022	21,409	20,264
2023	24,109	19,039

Maternal mortality chart: Costa Rica vs New Zealand

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 7 deaths in New Zealand.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Costa Rica	New Zealand
1985	43	19
1986	42	18
1987	41	19
1988	40	19
1989	40	18
1990	40	18
1991	39	16
1992	39	15
1993	39	14
1994	39	13
1995	39	14
1996	39	14
1997	38	13
1998	37	12
1999	36	12
2000	36	11
2001	35	10
2002	34	11
2003	33	11
2004	33	11
2005	31	11
2006	30	10
2007	30	10
2008	30	10
2009	29	10
2010	29	10
2011	28	10
2012	27	9
2013	27	8
2014	27	7
2015	26	8
2016	27	8
2017	27	8
2018	28	7
2019	26	8
2020	34	8
2021	44	8
2022	27	23
2023	24	7

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.05% in Costa Rica and 0.47% in New Zealand. 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	New Zealand
1960	9.62%	2.78%
1961	9.36%	2.68%
1962	9.27%	2.58%
1963	9.25%	2.48%
1964	9.18%	2.39%
1965	9.02%	2.31%
1966	8.78%	2.25%
1967	8.49%	2.2%
1968	8.17%	2.16%
1969	7.85%	2.12%
1970	7.48%	2.08%
1971	7.02%	2.03%
1972	6.45%	1.98%
1973	5.82%	1.94%
1974	5.17%	1.88%
1975	4.54%	1.83%
1976	3.93%	1.77%
1977	3.39%	1.71%
1978	2.96%	1.66%
1979	2.65%	1.61%
1980	2.45%	1.56%
1981	2.33%	1.52%
1982	2.29%	1.48%
1983	2.27%	1.45%
1984	2.25%	1.41%
1985	2.2%	1.38%
1986	2.12%	1.34%
1987	2.01%	1.29%
1988	1.89%	1.24%
1989	1.78%	1.18%
1990	1.69%	1.12%
1991	1.62%	1.06%
1992	1.57%	1%
1993	1.53%	0.95%
1994	1.51%	0.91%
1995	1.49%	0.87%
1996	1.47%	0.84%
1997	1.45%	0.81%
1998	1.41%	0.78%
1999	1.36%	0.76%
2000	1.31%	0.74%
2001	1.26%	0.72%
2002	1.22%	0.7%
2003	1.18%	0.69%
2004	1.15%	0.67%
2005	1.13%	0.66%
2006	1.12%	0.65%
2007	1.11%	0.65%
2008	1.09%	0.64%
2009	1.07%	0.63%
2010	1.05%	0.62%
2011	1.02%	0.61%
2012	0.98%	0.6%
2013	0.95%	0.59%
2014	0.92%	0.57%
2015	0.9%	0.56%
2016	0.89%	0.55%
2017	0.89%	0.53%
2018	0.89%	0.52%
2019	0.91%	0.51%
2020	0.94%	0.5%
2021	0.97%	0.49%
2022	1.01%	0.48%
2023	1.05%	0.47%