Fertility & birth rates in Denmark and South Africa

Fertility rate in Denmark vs South Africa 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 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Denmark vs South Africa 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	South Africa
1960	2.57	6.11
1961	2.55	6.08
1962	2.55	6.05
1963	2.67	6.01
1964	2.6	5.96
1965	2.61	5.89
1966	2.62	5.91
1967	2.35	5.85
1968	2.12	5.78
1969	2	5.72
1970	1.95	5.63
1971	2.04	5.57
1972	2.03	5.49
1973	1.92	5.41
1974	1.9	5.3
1975	1.92	5.19
1976	1.75	5.07
1977	1.66	4.94
1978	1.67	4.85
1979	1.6	4.82
1980	1.55	4.78
1981	1.44	4.71
1982	1.43	4.7
1983	1.38	4.63
1984	1.4	4.57
1985	1.45	4.5
1986	1.48	4.41
1987	1.5	4.35
1988	1.56	4.18
1989	1.62	3.98
1990	1.67	3.72
1991	1.68	3.62
1992	1.76	3.48
1993	1.75	3.37
1994	1.81	3.26
1995	1.8	3.17
1996	1.75	2.99
1997	1.75	2.73
1998	1.72	2.63
1999	1.73	2.56
2000	1.77	2.41
2001	1.74	2.37
2002	1.72	2.32
2003	1.76	2.36
2004	1.78	2.44
2005	1.8	2.51
2006	1.85	2.55
2007	1.84	2.55
2008	1.89	2.68
2009	1.84	2.5
2010	1.87	2.44
2011	1.75	2.44
2012	1.73	2.45
2013	1.67	2.43
2014	1.69	2.42
2015	1.71	2.36
2016	1.79	2.26
2017	1.75	2.28
2018	1.73	2.27
2019	1.7	2.26
2020	1.68	2.26
2021	1.72	2.25
2022	1.55	2.23
2023	1.5	2.22
2024	1.51	2.21
2025	1.51	2.19
2026	1.51	2.17
2027	1.52	2.15
2028	1.52	2.13
2029	1.52	2.12
2030	1.53	2.1
2031	1.53	2.09
2032	1.53	2.07
2033	1.53	2.06
2034	1.53	2.05
2035	1.54	2.04
2036	1.54	2.03
2037	1.54	2.02
2038	1.54	2
2039	1.54	1.99
2040	1.55	1.98
2041	1.55	1.98
2042	1.55	1.97
2043	1.55	1.96
2044	1.56	1.95
2045	1.56	1.94
2046	1.56	1.93
2047	1.56	1.92
2048	1.56	1.91
2049	1.56	1.9
2050	1.56	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Denmark	South Africa
1960	25.2%	42.1%
1961	24.7%	42.1%
1962	24.2%	42.1%
1963	24%	42.1%
1964	23.8%	42.1%
1965	23.8%	42.1%
1966	23.8%	42.1%
1967	23.8%	42.2%
1968	23.7%	42.2%
1969	23.5%	42.2%
1970	23.3%	42.3%
1971	23.1%	42.2%
1972	23%	42.2%
1973	22.9%	42.1%
1974	22.7%	42%
1975	22.6%	41.9%
1976	22.4%	41.8%
1977	22.1%	41.7%
1978	21.8%	41.5%
1979	21.3%	41.3%
1980	20.8%	40.9%
1981	20.3%	40.5%
1982	19.7%	40.1%
1983	19.2%	39.8%
1984	18.8%	39.5%
1985	18.4%	39.2%
1986	18.1%	38.9%
1987	17.7%	38.7%
1988	17.5%	38.4%
1989	17.2%	38.1%
1990	17.1%	37.7%
1991	17%	37.5%
1992	17%	37.6%
1993	17.1%	37.3%
1994	17.2%	37.2%
1995	17.4%	37.5%
1996	17.6%	37.5%
1997	17.9%	37.2%
1998	18.1%	36.5%
1999	18.3%	35.7%
2000	18.5%	34.9%
2001	18.7%	34%
2002	18.8%	33.2%
2003	18.8%	32.3%
2004	18.8%	31.6%
2005	18.8%	31.1%
2006	18.7%	30.6%
2007	18.5%	30.2%
2008	18.4%	29.9%
2009	18.2%	29.7%
2010	18%	29.4%
2011	17.8%	29.1%
2012	17.6%	28.9%
2013	17.3%	28.7%
2014	17.1%	28.5%
2015	16.9%	28.3%
2016	16.8%	28.3%
2017	16.7%	28.3%
2018	16.6%	27.9%
2019	16.4%	27.4%
2020	16.3%	27%
2021	16.2%	26.6%
2022	16%	26.3%
2023	15.9%	26.1%
2024	15.7%	25.9%
2025	15.6%	25.7%
2026	15.5%	25.6%
2027	15.4%	25.4%
2028	15.4%	25.3%
2029	15.4%	25.2%
2030	15.4%	25.2%
2031	15.4%	25.1%
2032	15.3%	25%
2033	15.2%	24.8%
2034	15.2%	24.5%
2035	15.1%	24.3%
2036	15%	23.9%
2037	15%	23.6%
2038	15%	23.4%
2039	15%	23.1%
2040	14.9%	22.9%
2041	14.9%	22.7%
2042	14.9%	22.5%
2043	14.8%	22.4%
2044	14.8%	22.2%
2045	14.7%	22.1%
2046	14.7%	21.9%
2047	14.6%	21.8%
2048	14.6%	21.7%
2049	14.5%	21.6%
2050	14.5%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 15.7% of the population in Denmark and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 17.1% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Denmark and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Denmark vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.09% in Denmark and +1.05% in South Africa. 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	South Africa
1960	32,515	421,263
1961	33,205	437,851
1962	32,070	455,634
1963	36,539	473,821
1964	36,832	490,606
1965	37,596	506,632
1966	38,858	534,862
1967	33,363	553,741
1968	27,243	571,841
1969	23,481	590,794
1970	22,673	605,102
1971	26,801	624,761
1972	24,958	638,754
1973	21,092	651,596
1974	19,676	658,438
1975	20,746	667,862
1976	11,667	675,011
1977	11,703	680,929
1978	9,187	694,341
1979	4,605	716,541
1980	1,537	738,415
1981	-3,073	767,833
1982	-2,559	807,550
1983	-6,649	837,013
1984	-5,623	869,011
1985	-4,603	893,889
1986	-2,561	903,644
1987	-1,538	922,330
1988	0	909,221
1989	2,053	884,629
1990	2,056	835,421
1991	4,639	827,296
1992	6,722	794,415
1993	4,670	789,220
1994	8,850	698,609
1995	6,280	743,488
1996	6,842	710,868
1997	7,927	667,969
1998	7,956	627,027
1999	6,919	594,643
2000	9,078	526,963
2001	6,967	484,801
2002	5,376	430,926
2003	7,007	415,018
2004	9,188	442,540
2005	9,755	464,464
2006	9,787	487,584
2007	8,192	503,567
2008	10,438	595,332
2009	8,285	554,115
2010	8,876	566,834
2011	6,685	601,708
2012	5,592	643,723
2013	3,931	652,427
2014	5,644	674,754
2015	5,683	668,771
2016	9,165	641,365
2017	8,071	645,975
2018	6,373	648,319
2019	6,977	652,130
2020	5,831	595,873
2021	5,857	456,411
2022	-1,180	603,636
2023	-595	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Denmark vs South Africa

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 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Denmark	South Africa
1985	12	208
1986	12	200
1987	12	192
1988	13	184
1989	13	177
1990	12	170
1991	12	162
1992	12	152
1993	12	145
1994	12	133
1995	12	125
1996	11	150
1997	10	152
1998	9	152
1999	9	151
2000	9	175
2001	9	192
2002	9	225
2003	8	245
2004	8	259
2005	8	279
2006	7	283
2007	7	272
2008	7	272
2009	7	241
2010	7	226
2011	6	202
2012	6	194
2013	5	180
2014	5	162
2015	5	150
2016	5	141
2017	5	134
2018	5	128
2019	4	119
2020	4	118
2021	8	191
2022	6	129
2023	4	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.34% in Denmark and 3.47% in South Africa. 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	South Africa
1960	2.5%	-
1961	2.45%	-
1962	2.38%	-
1963	2.3%	-
1964	2.21%	-
1965	2.11%	-
1966	2.01%	-
1967	1.9%	-
1968	1.81%	-
1969	1.73%	-
1970	1.66%	-
1971	1.58%	-
1972	1.49%	-
1973	1.39%	-
1974	1.31%	13.2%
1975	1.23%	12.5%
1976	1.17%	11.8%
1977	1.11%	11.1%
1978	1.06%	10.5%
1979	1.03%	9.88%
1980	1%	9.35%
1981	0.98%	8.84%
1982	0.96%	8.39%
1983	0.96%	7.98%
1984	0.96%	7.6%
1985	0.97%	7.24%
1986	0.97%	6.89%
1987	0.97%	6.56%
1988	0.96%	6.26%
1989	0.93%	6.01%
1990	0.89%	5.82%
1991	0.84%	5.7%
1992	0.79%	5.66%
1993	0.74%	5.7%
1994	0.69%	5.82%
1995	0.65%	5.95%
1996	0.63%	6.11%
1997	0.6%	6.29%
1998	0.59%	6.56%
1999	0.57%	6.85%
2000	0.56%	7.11%
2001	0.55%	7.43%
2002	0.54%	7.69%
2003	0.52%	7.93%
2004	0.5%	8.1%
2005	0.48%	8.03%
2006	0.46%	7.75%
2007	0.45%	7.19%
2008	0.43%	6.42%
2009	0.42%	5.7%
2010	0.41%	5%
2011	0.41%	4.5%
2012	0.41%	4.25%
2013	0.41%	4.1%
2014	0.41%	3.96%
2015	0.41%	3.82%
2016	0.4%	3.68%
2017	0.4%	3.58%
2018	0.39%	3.49%
2019	0.38%	3.45%
2020	0.37%	3.41%
2021	0.36%	3.41%
2022	0.35%	3.44%
2023	0.34%	3.47%