Fertility & birth rates in Costa Rica and Panama

Fertility rate in Costa Rica vs Panama 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 2.12 in Panama in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Costa Rica vs Panama 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	Panama
1960	6.71	5.83
1961	6.65	5.87
1962	6.54	5.87
1963	6.39	5.87
1964	6.19	5.81
1965	5.96	5.73
1966	5.7	5.65
1967	5.42	5.53
1968	5.03	5.41
1969	4.84	5.29
1970	4.59	5.18
1971	4.36	5.05
1972	4.16	4.91
1973	3.99	4.74
1974	3.89	4.58
1975	3.8	4.41
1976	3.75	4.26
1977	3.7	4.12
1978	3.66	3.98
1979	3.65	3.88
1980	3.58	3.8
1981	3.56	3.72
1982	3.54	3.66
1983	3.53	3.6
1984	3.52	3.52
1985	3.51	3.43
1986	3.45	3.34
1987	3.38	3.25
1988	3.31	3.17
1989	3.24	3.12
1990	3.17	3.07
1991	3.08	3
1992	3	2.95
1993	2.93	2.91
1994	2.86	2.88
1995	2.78	2.85
1996	2.68	2.83
1997	2.59	2.81
1998	2.53	2.79
1999	2.48	2.77
2000	2.41	2.74
2001	2.31	2.72
2002	2.16	2.7
2003	2.08	2.68
2004	2.03	2.68
2005	2.04	2.64
2006	1.94	2.62
2007	1.95	2.61
2008	1.98	2.61
2009	1.95	2.59
2010	1.83	2.59
2011	1.88	2.6
2012	1.85	2.59
2013	1.78	2.57
2014	1.8	2.55
2015	1.8	2.53
2016	1.75	2.5
2017	1.71	2.46
2018	1.71	2.4
2019	1.6	2.29
2020	1.45	2.18
2021	1.35	2.15
2022	1.34	2.14
2023	1.33	2.12
2024	1.32	2.11
2025	1.31	2.09
2026	1.31	2.07
2027	1.31	2.06
2028	1.3	2.04
2029	1.31	2.02
2030	1.31	2.01
2031	1.31	2
2032	1.32	1.99
2033	1.32	1.97
2034	1.32	1.96
2035	1.33	1.95
2036	1.33	1.95
2037	1.34	1.94
2038	1.34	1.93
2039	1.35	1.92
2040	1.35	1.91
2041	1.35	1.91
2042	1.36	1.9
2043	1.36	1.89
2044	1.37	1.89
2045	1.37	1.88
2046	1.37	1.88
2047	1.38	1.87
2048	1.38	1.87
2049	1.38	1.86
2050	1.38	1.86

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Costa Rica	Panama
1960	46.4%	44.2%
1961	46.6%	44.3%
1962	46.7%	44.5%
1963	46.7%	44.6%
1964	46.6%	44.7%
1965	46.5%	44.8%
1966	46.3%	44.8%
1967	45.9%	44.8%
1968	45.5%	44.7%
1969	45%	44.6%
1970	44.4%	44.5%
1971	43.8%	44.3%
1972	43.1%	44.1%
1973	42.3%	43.9%
1974	41.5%	43.6%
1975	40.8%	43.3%
1976	40%	42.9%
1977	39.2%	42.4%
1978	38.6%	41.9%
1979	38%	41.4%
1980	37.5%	40.8%
1981	37.1%	40.3%
1982	36.7%	39.8%
1983	36.5%	39.3%
1984	36.4%	38.8%
1985	36.3%	38.3%
1986	36.3%	37.8%
1987	36.2%	37.4%
1988	36.2%	36.9%
1989	36.1%	36.5%
1990	36%	36.1%
1991	35.7%	35.7%
1992	35.4%	35.3%
1993	35%	34.9%
1994	34.6%	34.6%
1995	34.1%	34.2%
1996	33.6%	33.9%
1997	33%	33.5%
1998	32.4%	33.1%
1999	31.8%	32.8%
2000	31.1%	32.4%
2001	30.5%	32%
2002	29.8%	31.6%
2003	29.1%	31.3%
2004	28.4%	31%
2005	27.7%	30.6%
2006	27.1%	30.3%
2007	26.5%	30%
2008	25.9%	29.7%
2009	25.4%	29.5%
2010	24.9%	29.2%
2011	24.3%	28.9%
2012	23.9%	28.7%
2013	23.4%	28.4%
2014	23%	28.2%
2015	22.5%	27.9%
2016	22.1%	27.6%
2017	21.8%	27.4%
2018	21.4%	27.1%
2019	21.1%	26.7%
2020	20.7%	26.4%
2021	20.3%	26%
2022	19.8%	25.7%
2023	19.3%	25.3%
2024	18.8%	24.9%
2025	18.3%	24.5%
2026	17.8%	24.1%
2027	17.3%	23.8%
2028	16.9%	23.4%
2029	16.4%	23%
2030	16%	22.6%
2031	15.5%	22.2%
2032	15.1%	21.9%
2033	14.7%	21.6%
2034	14.4%	21.3%
2035	14.1%	21%
2036	13.9%	20.9%
2037	13.8%	20.7%
2038	13.7%	20.5%
2039	13.6%	20.3%
2040	13.5%	20.1%
2041	13.4%	20%
2042	13.3%	19.8%
2043	13.2%	19.6%
2044	13.2%	19.4%
2045	13.1%	19.3%
2046	13%	19.1%
2047	12.9%	18.9%
2048	12.8%	18.8%
2049	12.7%	18.6%
2050	12.6%	18.4%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.8% of the population in Costa Rica and 24.9% in Panama in 2024, compared to 36% and 36.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Costa Rica and Panama compared.

Natural population change in Costa Rica vs Panama by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.74% in Costa Rica and +1.31% in Panama. 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	Panama
1960	48,857	35,431
1961	50,149	37,100
1962	51,046	38,537
1963	51,403	39,872
1964	51,435	40,806
1965	51,196	41,604
1966	50,755	42,457
1967	50,193	43,054
1968	48,361	43,641
1969	48,790	44,278
1970	48,398	45,075
1971	48,341	45,867
1972	48,417	46,311
1973	48,943	46,540
1974	50,349	46,932
1975	51,979	47,149
1976	54,019	47,307
1977	56,122	47,438
1978	58,327	47,694
1979	60,984	48,362
1980	62,561	49,077
1981	64,632	50,018
1982	66,826	50,858
1983	68,972	51,880
1984	71,062	52,436
1985	72,776	52,573
1986	73,211	52,681
1987	73,188	52,690
1988	72,944	52,767
1989	72,327	52,295
1990	71,727	53,451
1991	70,506	53,079
1992	69,830	53,186
1993	69,016	53,591
1994	68,336	53,845
1995	67,585	54,069
1996	66,094	54,512
1997	64,954	55,060
1998	64,788	55,482
1999	64,922	55,911
2000	64,268	56,236
2001	62,199	56,654
2002	58,388	57,011
2003	56,743	57,458
2004	55,769	58,281
2005	57,139	58,014
2006	54,177	58,067
2007	55,244	58,454
2008	56,491	58,961
2009	55,757	59,168
2010	50,803	59,418
2011	52,884	60,411
2012	52,036	60,471
2013	49,227	60,295
2014	49,559	60,227
2015	49,077	59,896
2016	45,565	59,454
2017	43,471	58,607
2018	42,469	57,508
2019	37,682	54,420
2020	29,164	46,599
2021	20,119	46,747
2022	21,409	50,556
2023	24,109	50,197

Maternal mortality chart: Costa Rica vs Panama

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 37 deaths in Panama.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Costa Rica	Panama
1985	43	95
1986	42	94
1987	41	93
1988	40	93
1989	40	96
1990	40	89
1991	39	87
1992	39	85
1993	39	81
1994	39	78
1995	39	77
1996	39	73
1997	38	70
1998	37	68
1999	36	65
2000	36	64
2001	35	62
2002	34	59
2003	33	58
2004	33	57
2005	31	57
2006	30	56
2007	30	55
2008	30	55
2009	29	55
2010	29	56
2011	28	55
2012	27	53
2013	27	52
2014	27	49
2015	26	48
2016	27	47
2017	27	47
2018	28	43
2019	26	41
2020	34	74
2021	44	59
2022	27	40
2023	24	37

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.05% in Costa Rica and 1.33% in Panama. 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	Panama
1960	9.62%	9.31%
1961	9.36%	9.04%
1962	9.27%	8.78%
1963	9.25%	8.52%
1964	9.18%	8.28%
1965	9.02%	8.05%
1966	8.78%	7.83%
1967	8.49%	7.62%
1968	8.17%	7.38%
1969	7.85%	7.1%
1970	7.48%	6.78%
1971	7.02%	6.43%
1972	6.45%	6.07%
1973	5.82%	5.72%
1974	5.17%	5.41%
1975	4.54%	5.15%
1976	3.93%	4.93%
1977	3.39%	4.76%
1978	2.96%	4.61%
1979	2.65%	4.47%
1980	2.45%	4.34%
1981	2.33%	4.19%
1982	2.29%	4.05%
1983	2.27%	3.9%
1984	2.25%	3.75%
1985	2.2%	3.61%
1986	2.12%	3.47%
1987	2.01%	3.35%
1988	1.89%	3.24%
1989	1.78%	3.14%
1990	1.69%	3.05%
1991	1.62%	2.97%
1992	1.57%	2.91%
1993	1.53%	2.87%
1994	1.51%	2.83%
1995	1.49%	2.8%
1996	1.47%	2.77%
1997	1.45%	2.73%
1998	1.41%	2.68%
1999	1.36%	2.63%
2000	1.31%	2.56%
2001	1.26%	2.49%
2002	1.22%	2.41%
2003	1.18%	2.33%
2004	1.15%	2.25%
2005	1.13%	2.17%
2006	1.12%	2.1%
2007	1.11%	2.03%
2008	1.09%	1.97%
2009	1.07%	1.91%
2010	1.05%	1.86%
2011	1.02%	1.81%
2012	0.98%	1.77%
2013	0.95%	1.75%
2014	0.92%	1.73%
2015	0.9%	1.72%
2016	0.89%	1.7%
2017	0.89%	1.68%
2018	0.89%	1.65%
2019	0.91%	1.59%
2020	0.94%	1.52%
2021	0.97%	1.45%
2022	1.01%	1.39%
2023	1.05%	1.33%