Fertility & birth rates in Denmark and Netherlands

Fertility rate in Denmark vs Netherlands chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Denmark was 1.5 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.43 in the Netherlands in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Denmark vs the Netherlands population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Denmark	Netherlands
1960	2.57	3.12
1961	2.55	3.22
1962	2.55	3.18
1963	2.67	3.19
1964	2.6	3.17
1965	2.61	3.04
1966	2.62	2.9
1967	2.35	2.81
1968	2.12	2.72
1969	2	2.75
1970	1.95	2.57
1971	2.04	2.36
1972	2.03	2.15
1973	1.92	1.9
1974	1.9	1.77
1975	1.92	1.66
1976	1.75	1.63
1977	1.66	1.58
1978	1.67	1.58
1979	1.6	1.56
1980	1.55	1.6
1981	1.44	1.56
1982	1.43	1.5
1983	1.38	1.47
1984	1.4	1.49
1985	1.45	1.51
1986	1.48	1.55
1987	1.5	1.56
1988	1.56	1.55
1989	1.62	1.55
1990	1.67	1.62
1991	1.68	1.61
1992	1.76	1.59
1993	1.75	1.57
1994	1.81	1.57
1995	1.8	1.53
1996	1.75	1.53
1997	1.75	1.56
1998	1.72	1.63
1999	1.73	1.65
2000	1.77	1.72
2001	1.74	1.71
2002	1.72	1.73
2003	1.76	1.75
2004	1.78	1.72
2005	1.8	1.71
2006	1.85	1.72
2007	1.84	1.72
2008	1.89	1.77
2009	1.84	1.79
2010	1.87	1.79
2011	1.75	1.76
2012	1.73	1.72
2013	1.67	1.68
2014	1.69	1.71
2015	1.71	1.66
2016	1.79	1.66
2017	1.75	1.62
2018	1.73	1.59
2019	1.7	1.57
2020	1.68	1.54
2021	1.72	1.62
2022	1.55	1.49
2023	1.5	1.43
2024	1.51	1.43
2025	1.51	1.44
2026	1.51	1.44
2027	1.52	1.45
2028	1.52	1.45
2029	1.52	1.45
2030	1.53	1.46
2031	1.53	1.46
2032	1.53	1.47
2033	1.53	1.47
2034	1.53	1.48
2035	1.54	1.48
2036	1.54	1.48
2037	1.54	1.48
2038	1.54	1.48
2039	1.54	1.49
2040	1.55	1.49
2041	1.55	1.49
2042	1.55	1.5
2043	1.55	1.5
2044	1.56	1.5
2045	1.56	1.5
2046	1.56	1.5
2047	1.56	1.51
2048	1.56	1.51
2049	1.56	1.51
2050	1.56	1.51

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Denmark	Netherlands
1960	25.2%	30%
1961	24.7%	29.7%
1962	24.2%	29.1%
1963	24%	28.7%
1964	23.8%	28.5%
1965	23.8%	28.3%
1966	23.8%	28.1%
1967	23.8%	27.8%
1968	23.7%	27.6%
1969	23.5%	27.5%
1970	23.3%	27.3%
1971	23.1%	27.1%
1972	23%	26.8%
1973	22.9%	26.4%
1974	22.7%	25.9%
1975	22.6%	25.3%
1976	22.4%	24.8%
1977	22.1%	24.2%
1978	21.8%	23.5%
1979	21.3%	22.9%
1980	20.8%	22.3%
1981	20.3%	21.8%
1982	19.7%	21.3%
1983	19.2%	20.7%
1984	18.8%	20.1%
1985	18.4%	19.5%
1986	18.1%	19.1%
1987	17.7%	18.7%
1988	17.5%	18.5%
1989	17.2%	18.4%
1990	17.1%	18.4%
1991	17%	18.4%
1992	17%	18.5%
1993	17.1%	18.5%
1994	17.2%	18.6%
1995	17.4%	18.6%
1996	17.6%	18.6%
1997	17.9%	18.6%
1998	18.1%	18.6%
1999	18.3%	18.7%
2000	18.5%	18.8%
2001	18.7%	18.8%
2002	18.8%	18.8%
2003	18.8%	18.7%
2004	18.8%	18.6%
2005	18.8%	18.5%
2006	18.7%	18.3%
2007	18.5%	18.1%
2008	18.4%	17.9%
2009	18.2%	17.7%
2010	18%	17.6%
2011	17.8%	17.4%
2012	17.6%	17.3%
2013	17.3%	17.1%
2014	17.1%	16.9%
2015	16.9%	16.6%
2016	16.8%	16.4%
2017	16.7%	16.2%
2018	16.6%	16%
2019	16.4%	15.8%
2020	16.3%	15.6%
2021	16.2%	15.5%
2022	16%	15.4%
2023	15.9%	15.2%
2024	15.7%	15%
2025	15.6%	14.9%
2026	15.5%	14.9%
2027	15.4%	14.8%
2028	15.4%	14.8%
2029	15.4%	14.8%
2030	15.4%	14.8%
2031	15.4%	14.8%
2032	15.3%	14.7%
2033	15.2%	14.7%
2034	15.2%	14.7%
2035	15.1%	14.7%
2036	15%	14.7%
2037	15%	14.6%
2038	15%	14.6%
2039	15%	14.6%
2040	14.9%	14.5%
2041	14.9%	14.5%
2042	14.9%	14.4%
2043	14.8%	14.4%
2044	14.8%	14.3%
2045	14.7%	14.2%
2046	14.7%	14.1%
2047	14.6%	14.1%
2048	14.6%	14%
2049	14.5%	13.9%
2050	14.5%	13.8%

Children aged 0-14 make up 15.7% of the population in Denmark and 15% in the Netherlands in 2024, compared to 17.1% and 18.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Denmark and the Netherlands compared.

Natural population change in Denmark vs Netherlands by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.09% in Denmark and +0.08% in the Netherlands. 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
	Denmark	Netherlands
1960	32,515	151,623
1961	33,205	159,450
1962	32,070	153,474
1963	36,539	154,361
1964	36,832	157,653
1965	37,596	146,308
1966	38,858	138,265
1967	33,363	138,580
1968	27,243	132,389
1969	23,481	139,082
1970	22,673	129,082
1971	26,801	116,112
1972	24,958	101,297
1973	21,092	84,668
1974	19,676	75,853
1975	20,746	64,232
1976	11,667	63,361
1977	11,703	63,739
1978	9,187	61,344
1979	4,605	63,172
1980	1,537	66,504
1981	-3,073	62,688
1982	-2,559	54,388
1983	-6,649	51,722
1984	-5,623	54,812
1985	-4,603	55,069
1986	-2,561	59,746
1987	-1,538	64,526
1988	0	61,993
1989	2,053	59,396
1990	2,056	68,777
1991	4,639	69,321
1992	6,722	66,811
1993	4,670	58,103
1994	8,850	61,532
1995	6,280	54,106
1996	6,842	51,251
1997	7,927	56,198
1998	7,956	61,258
1999	6,919	60,086
2000	9,078	66,887
2001	6,967	62,580
2002	5,376	59,751
2003	7,007	58,411
2004	9,188	56,987
2005	9,755	50,592
2006	9,787	49,038
2007	8,192	49,145
2008	10,438	49,337
2009	8,285	51,244
2010	8,876	48,184
2011	6,685	45,072
2012	5,592	35,186
2013	3,931	30,248
2014	5,644	35,417
2015	5,683	23,716
2016	9,165	23,843
2017	8,071	18,844
2018	6,373	15,508
2019	6,977	17,345
2020	5,831	0
2021	5,857	7,014
2022	-1,180	-1,770
2023	-595	-5,363

Maternal mortality chart: Denmark vs Netherlands

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in Denmark, compared to 4 deaths in the Netherlands.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Denmark	Netherlands
1985	12	12
1986	12	12
1987	12	12
1988	13	12
1989	13	12
1990	12	12
1991	12	12
1992	12	12
1993	12	12
1994	12	12
1995	12	12
1996	11	12
1997	10	13
1998	9	12
1999	9	13
2000	9	13
2001	9	13
2002	9	13
2003	8	12
2004	8	11
2005	8	10
2006	7	9
2007	7	8
2008	7	8
2009	7	7
2010	7	6
2011	6	7
2012	6	6
2013	5	6
2014	5	5
2015	5	5
2016	5	5
2017	5	5
2018	5	5
2019	4	5
2020	4	4
2021	8	5
2022	6	4
2023	4	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.34% in Denmark and 0.4% in the Netherlands. 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
	Denmark	Netherlands
1960	2.5%	2.08%
1961	2.45%	2.03%
1962	2.38%	1.97%
1963	2.3%	1.92%
1964	2.21%	1.88%
1965	2.11%	1.83%
1966	2.01%	1.79%
1967	1.9%	1.74%
1968	1.81%	1.69%
1969	1.73%	1.64%
1970	1.66%	1.58%
1971	1.58%	1.53%
1972	1.49%	1.47%
1973	1.39%	1.41%
1974	1.31%	1.36%
1975	1.23%	1.31%
1976	1.17%	1.26%
1977	1.11%	1.21%
1978	1.06%	1.16%
1979	1.03%	1.12%
1980	1%	1.09%
1981	0.98%	1.06%
1982	0.96%	1.04%
1983	0.96%	1.02%
1984	0.96%	0.99%
1985	0.97%	0.97%
1986	0.97%	0.95%
1987	0.97%	0.92%
1988	0.96%	0.89%
1989	0.93%	0.86%
1990	0.89%	0.83%
1991	0.84%	0.8%
1992	0.79%	0.77%
1993	0.74%	0.74%
1994	0.69%	0.71%
1995	0.65%	0.69%
1996	0.63%	0.67%
1997	0.6%	0.66%
1998	0.59%	0.64%
1999	0.57%	0.63%
2000	0.56%	0.62%
2001	0.55%	0.61%
2002	0.54%	0.59%
2003	0.52%	0.57%
2004	0.5%	0.55%
2005	0.48%	0.53%
2006	0.46%	0.51%
2007	0.45%	0.49%
2008	0.43%	0.47%
2009	0.42%	0.46%
2010	0.41%	0.44%
2011	0.41%	0.43%
2012	0.41%	0.42%
2013	0.41%	0.42%
2014	0.41%	0.41%
2015	0.41%	0.41%
2016	0.4%	0.41%
2017	0.4%	0.4%
2018	0.39%	0.4%
2019	0.38%	0.4%
2020	0.37%	0.4%
2021	0.36%	0.4%
2022	0.35%	0.4%
2023	0.34%	0.4%