Fertility & birth rates in Costa Rica and South Korea

Fertility rate in Costa Rica vs South Korea 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 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Costa Rica vs South Korea 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	South Korea
1960	6.71	5.99
1961	6.65	5.8
1962	6.54	5.56
1963	6.39	5.33
1964	6.19	5.07
1965	5.96	4.89
1966	5.7	4.78
1967	5.42	4.62
1968	5.03	4.51
1969	4.84	4.45
1970	4.59	4.53
1971	4.36	4.54
1972	4.16	4.12
1973	3.99	4.07
1974	3.89	3.77
1975	3.8	3.43
1976	3.75	3
1977	3.7	2.99
1978	3.66	2.64
1979	3.65	2.9
1980	3.58	2.82
1981	3.56	2.57
1982	3.54	2.39
1983	3.53	2.06
1984	3.52	1.74
1985	3.51	1.66
1986	3.45	1.58
1987	3.38	1.53
1988	3.31	1.55
1989	3.24	1.56
1990	3.17	1.57
1991	3.08	1.71
1992	3	1.76
1993	2.93	1.65
1994	2.86	1.66
1995	2.78	1.63
1996	2.68	1.57
1997	2.59	1.54
1998	2.53	1.46
1999	2.48	1.43
2000	2.41	1.48
2001	2.31	1.31
2002	2.16	1.18
2003	2.08	1.19
2004	2.03	1.16
2005	2.04	1.09
2006	1.94	1.13
2007	1.95	1.26
2008	1.98	1.19
2009	1.95	1.15
2010	1.83	1.23
2011	1.88	1.24
2012	1.85	1.3
2013	1.78	1.19
2014	1.8	1.21
2015	1.8	1.24
2016	1.75	1.17
2017	1.71	1.05
2018	1.71	0.98
2019	1.6	0.92
2020	1.45	0.84
2021	1.35	0.81
2022	1.34	0.78
2023	1.33	0.72
2024	1.32	0.73
2025	1.31	0.75
2026	1.31	0.76
2027	1.31	0.78
2028	1.3	0.79
2029	1.31	0.8
2030	1.31	0.82
2031	1.31	0.83
2032	1.32	0.84
2033	1.32	0.85
2034	1.32	0.86
2035	1.33	0.88
2036	1.33	0.89
2037	1.34	0.9
2038	1.34	0.91
2039	1.35	0.92
2040	1.35	0.93
2041	1.35	0.95
2042	1.36	0.96
2043	1.36	0.96
2044	1.37	0.97
2045	1.37	0.98
2046	1.37	0.99
2047	1.38	1
2048	1.38	1.01
2049	1.38	1.02
2050	1.38	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Costa Rica	South Korea
1960	46.4%	41.3%
1961	46.6%	41.8%
1962	46.7%	42.3%
1963	46.7%	42.7%
1964	46.6%	43.1%
1965	46.5%	43.3%
1966	46.3%	43.5%
1967	45.9%	43.3%
1968	45.5%	43.1%
1969	45%	42.7%
1970	44.4%	42.1%
1971	43.8%	41.5%
1972	43.1%	41%
1973	42.3%	40.3%
1974	41.5%	39.5%
1975	40.8%	38.5%
1976	40%	37.5%
1977	39.2%	36.5%
1978	38.6%	35.6%
1979	38%	34.8%
1980	37.5%	34%
1981	37.1%	33.3%
1982	36.7%	32.7%
1983	36.5%	32%
1984	36.4%	31.2%
1985	36.3%	30.2%
1986	36.3%	29.2%
1987	36.2%	28.2%
1988	36.2%	27.3%
1989	36.1%	26.5%
1990	36%	25.8%
1991	35.7%	25.2%
1992	35.4%	24.7%
1993	35%	24.2%
1994	34.6%	23.7%
1995	34.1%	23.1%
1996	33.6%	22.5%
1997	33%	22%
1998	32.4%	21.6%
1999	31.8%	21.2%
2000	31.1%	21%
2001	30.5%	20.8%
2002	29.8%	20.5%
2003	29.1%	20.1%
2004	28.4%	19.7%
2005	27.7%	19.2%
2006	27.1%	18.7%
2007	26.5%	18.1%
2008	25.9%	17.5%
2009	25.4%	16.9%
2010	24.9%	16.4%
2011	24.3%	15.8%
2012	23.9%	15.2%
2013	23.4%	14.7%
2014	23%	14.2%
2015	22.5%	13.8%
2016	22.1%	13.4%
2017	21.8%	13%
2018	21.4%	12.7%
2019	21.1%	12.4%
2020	20.7%	12.1%
2021	20.3%	11.8%
2022	19.8%	11.4%
2023	19.3%	11%
2024	18.8%	10.6%
2025	18.3%	10.2%
2026	17.8%	9.82%
2027	17.3%	9.42%
2028	16.9%	9.06%
2029	16.4%	8.75%
2030	16%	8.43%
2031	15.5%	8.15%
2032	15.1%	7.94%
2033	14.7%	7.79%
2034	14.4%	7.7%
2035	14.1%	7.66%
2036	13.9%	7.65%
2037	13.8%	7.66%
2038	13.7%	7.68%
2039	13.6%	7.71%
2040	13.5%	7.73%
2041	13.4%	7.75%
2042	13.3%	7.76%
2043	13.2%	7.77%
2044	13.2%	7.78%
2045	13.1%	7.79%
2046	13%	7.8%
2047	12.9%	7.81%
2048	12.8%	7.82%
2049	12.7%	7.82%
2050	12.6%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.8% of the population in Costa Rica and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 36% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Costa Rica and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Costa Rica vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.74% in Costa Rica and +0.06% in South Korea. 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	South Korea
1960	48,857	728,010
1961	50,149	730,173
1962	51,046	712,590
1963	51,403	685,824
1964	51,435	655,501
1965	51,196	641,090
1966	50,755	623,534
1967	50,193	692,169
1968	48,361	684,487
1969	48,790	694,227
1970	48,398	747,987
1971	48,341	789,185
1972	48,417	740,469
1973	48,943	699,115
1974	50,349	673,030
1975	51,979	603,300
1976	54,019	530,558
1977	56,122	578,947
1978	58,327	499,084
1979	60,984	623,068
1980	62,561	583,294
1981	64,632	631,189
1982	66,826	605,626
1983	68,972	514,844
1984	71,062	436,384
1985	72,776	416,219
1986	73,211	395,651
1987	73,188	378,758
1988	72,944	399,297
1989	72,327	403,266
1990	71,727	411,546
1991	70,506	467,594
1992	69,830	494,352
1993	69,016	477,302
1994	68,336	473,200
1995	67,585	468,967
1996	66,094	446,142
1997	64,954	422,773
1998	64,788	393,436
1999	64,922	368,272
2000	64,268	390,167
2001	62,199	312,643
2002	58,388	247,752
2003	56,743	244,251
2004	55,769	225,988
2005	57,139	187,920
2006	54,177	203,441
2007	55,244	248,286
2008	56,491	215,841
2009	55,757	197,231
2010	50,803	213,083
2011	52,884	214,728
2012	52,036	215,859
2013	49,227	166,415
2014	49,559	167,464
2015	49,077	163,248
2016	45,565	122,923
2017	43,471	71,907
2018	42,469	30,951
2019	37,682	10,353
2020	29,164	-31,101
2021	20,119	-56,947
2022	21,409	-124,014
2023	24,109	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Costa Rica vs South Korea

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 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Costa Rica	South Korea
1985	43	38
1986	42	35
1987	41	34
1988	40	31
1989	40	29
1990	40	28
1991	39	28
1992	39	26
1993	39	24
1994	39	23
1995	39	22
1996	39	20
1997	38	19
1998	37	18
1999	36	17
2000	36	15
2001	35	14
2002	34	13
2003	33	13
2004	33	12
2005	31	11
2006	30	10
2007	30	10
2008	30	9
2009	29	9
2010	29	8
2011	28	8
2012	27	8
2013	27	7
2014	27	7
2015	26	6
2016	27	6
2017	27	6
2018	28	5
2019	26	5
2020	34	12
2021	44	5
2022	27	7
2023	24	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.05% in Costa Rica and 0.28% in South Korea. 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	South Korea
1960	9.62%	11.2%
1961	9.36%	10.6%
1962	9.27%	10.1%
1963	9.25%	9.67%
1964	9.18%	9.18%
1965	9.02%	8.68%
1966	8.78%	8.16%
1967	8.49%	7.62%
1968	8.17%	7.1%
1969	7.85%	6.59%
1970	7.48%	6.12%
1971	7.02%	5.71%
1972	6.45%	5.36%
1973	5.82%	5.07%
1974	5.17%	4.82%
1975	4.54%	4.61%
1976	3.93%	4.42%
1977	3.39%	4.23%
1978	2.96%	4.04%
1979	2.65%	3.84%
1980	2.45%	3.63%
1981	2.33%	3.4%
1982	2.29%	3.17%
1983	2.27%	2.93%
1984	2.25%	2.7%
1985	2.2%	2.46%
1986	2.12%	2.25%
1987	2.01%	2.05%
1988	1.89%	1.87%
1989	1.78%	1.71%
1990	1.69%	1.57%
1991	1.62%	1.44%
1992	1.57%	1.33%
1993	1.53%	1.23%
1994	1.51%	1.14%
1995	1.49%	1.05%
1996	1.47%	0.98%
1997	1.45%	0.91%
1998	1.41%	0.85%
1999	1.36%	0.8%
2000	1.31%	0.75%
2001	1.26%	0.71%
2002	1.22%	0.68%
2003	1.18%	0.64%
2004	1.15%	0.6%
2005	1.13%	0.56%
2006	1.12%	0.52%
2007	1.11%	0.48%
2008	1.09%	0.45%
2009	1.07%	0.43%
2010	1.05%	0.41%
2011	1.02%	0.4%
2012	0.98%	0.38%
2013	0.95%	0.37%
2014	0.92%	0.36%
2015	0.9%	0.35%
2016	0.89%	0.34%
2017	0.89%	0.33%
2018	0.89%	0.32%
2019	0.91%	0.31%
2020	0.94%	0.3%
2021	0.97%	0.29%
2022	1.01%	0.28%
2023	1.05%	0.28%