Fertility & birth rates in Eswatini and Gambia

Fertility rate in Eswatini vs Gambia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Eswatini was 2.75 children per woman in 2023, compared to 4.01 in the Gambia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Eswatini vs the Gambia population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Eswatini	Gambia
1960	6.75	6.25
1961	6.77	6.23
1962	6.79	6.21
1963	6.8	6.2
1964	6.79	6.2
1965	6.79	6.19
1966	6.8	6.18
1967	6.77	6.21
1968	6.76	6.22
1969	6.76	6.25
1970	6.75	6.26
1971	6.74	6.33
1972	6.72	6.37
1973	6.72	6.41
1974	6.71	6.42
1975	6.71	6.43
1976	6.7	6.43
1977	6.68	6.43
1978	6.65	6.42
1979	6.61	6.41
1980	6.57	6.41
1981	6.54	6.4
1982	6.49	6.4
1983	6.43	6.39
1984	6.36	6.39
1985	6.28	6.36
1986	6.11	6.34
1987	5.9	6.3
1988	5.69	6.26
1989	5.48	6.25
1990	5.3	6.25
1991	5.13	6.19
1992	4.98	6.11
1993	4.82	6.03
1994	4.66	6.04
1995	4.52	5.99
1996	4.38	5.93
1997	4.24	5.85
1998	4.13	5.82
1999	4.09	5.77
2000	4.03	5.72
2001	3.94	5.67
2002	3.85	5.66
2003	3.8	5.66
2004	3.76	5.68
2005	3.7	5.71
2006	3.63	5.74
2007	3.58	5.69
2008	3.57	5.63
2009	3.5	5.57
2010	3.38	5.56
2011	3.32	5.54
2012	3.27	5.52
2013	3.24	5.39
2014	3.18	5.2
2015	3.12	5
2016	3.07	4.81
2017	3.02	4.61
2018	2.97	4.42
2019	2.93	4.33
2020	2.89	4.25
2021	2.84	4.17
2022	2.8	4.08
2023	2.75	4.01
2024	2.72	3.91
2025	2.68	3.8
2026	2.64	3.7
2027	2.61	3.6
2028	2.57	3.51
2029	2.54	3.41
2030	2.51	3.33
2031	2.49	3.24
2032	2.45	3.17
2033	2.42	3.1
2034	2.4	3.03
2035	2.37	2.97
2036	2.35	2.91
2037	2.32	2.86
2038	2.3	2.81
2039	2.28	2.76
2040	2.26	2.71
2041	2.24	2.67
2042	2.22	2.63
2043	2.2	2.59
2044	2.18	2.56
2045	2.16	2.52
2046	2.14	2.49
2047	2.13	2.46
2048	2.11	2.43
2049	2.1	2.4
2050	2.08	2.38

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Eswatini	Gambia
1960	46.9%	41%
1961	47.2%	40.8%
1962	47.4%	40.7%
1963	47.7%	40.8%
1964	47.8%	41%
1965	47.7%	41.3%
1966	47.7%	41.5%
1967	47.5%	41.6%
1968	47.3%	41.8%
1969	47.2%	41.9%
1970	47.2%	42%
1971	47.2%	42.1%
1972	47.3%	42.2%
1973	47.4%	42.3%
1974	47.5%	42.4%
1975	47.7%	42.6%
1976	47.9%	42.8%
1977	48.1%	43%
1978	48.3%	43.3%
1979	48.5%	43.5%
1980	48.7%	43.7%
1981	48.9%	44%
1982	49.2%	44.3%
1983	49.3%	44.6%
1984	49.4%	44.9%
1985	49.5%	45%
1986	49.4%	45.2%
1987	49.3%	45.4%
1988	48.7%	45.5%
1989	48.1%	45.6%
1990	47.6%	45.7%
1991	47.1%	45.8%
1992	46.6%	45.9%
1993	46.4%	46%
1994	47%	46.3%
1995	47.4%	46.5%
1996	46.9%	46.7%
1997	46.2%	46.9%
1998	45.3%	46.9%
1999	44.4%	46.9%
2000	43.6%	46.8%
2001	42.9%	46.7%
2002	42.3%	46.6%
2003	41.8%	46.4%
2004	41.4%	46.1%
2005	41.1%	45.9%
2006	40.8%	45.6%
2007	40.4%	45.3%
2008	39.9%	45.1%
2009	39.3%	44.8%
2010	38.8%	44.5%
2011	38.4%	44.3%
2012	38%	44.1%
2013	37.6%	43.9%
2014	37.2%	43.7%
2015	36.8%	43.6%
2016	36.4%	43.3%
2017	36%	43.1%
2018	35.6%	42.8%
2019	35.1%	42.4%
2020	34.7%	42%
2021	34.3%	41.6%
2022	34%	41.2%
2023	33.7%	40.7%
2024	33.4%	40.2%
2025	33%	39.7%
2026	32.6%	39.2%
2027	32.2%	38.5%
2028	31.8%	37.9%
2029	31.4%	37.3%
2030	31%	36.7%
2031	30.7%	36.2%
2032	30.3%	35.7%
2033	29.9%	35.2%
2034	29.5%	34.8%
2035	29.1%	34.3%
2036	28.7%	33.9%
2037	28.4%	33.4%
2038	28%	33%
2039	27.7%	32.5%
2040	27.4%	32.1%
2041	27.1%	31.7%
2042	26.8%	31.3%
2043	26.5%	30.9%
2044	26.2%	30.5%
2045	26%	30.2%
2046	25.7%	29.8%
2047	25.4%	29.5%
2048	25.1%	29.1%
2049	24.9%	28.8%
2050	24.6%	28.4%

Children aged 0-14 make up 33.4% of the population in Eswatini and 40.2% in the Gambia in 2024, compared to 47.6% and 45.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Eswatini and the Gambia compared.

Natural population change in Eswatini vs Gambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.63% in Eswatini and +2.59% in the Gambia. 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
	Eswatini	Gambia
1960	9,947	8,420
1961	10,262	8,778
1962	10,601	9,150
1963	10,929	9,493
1964	11,266	9,825
1965	11,719	10,162
1966	12,282	10,422
1967	12,773	10,823
1968	13,449	11,215
1969	14,164	11,670
1970	14,873	12,128
1971	15,615	12,842
1972	16,353	13,432
1973	17,145	14,046
1974	17,971	14,628
1975	18,849	15,256
1976	19,734	16,032
1977	20,609	16,773
1978	21,466	17,424
1979	22,299	18,543
1980	23,153	19,566
1981	23,973	20,156
1982	24,742	21,894
1983	24,883	23,175
1984	26,149	24,586
1985	26,835	25,795
1986	27,096	27,195
1987	27,285	28,452
1988	27,396	29,938
1989	28,257	31,504
1990	28,349	33,163
1991	28,497	34,584
1992	28,446	35,951
1993	28,046	37,302
1994	26,703	38,880
1995	23,029	39,681
1996	21,858	40,253
1997	20,686	40,742
1998	19,762	41,842
1999	19,420	42,533
2000	18,830	43,249
2001	17,824	44,154
2002	16,924	45,156
2003	16,396	46,473
2004	15,979	48,276
2005	15,945	50,010
2006	16,133	52,335
2007	16,595	53,653
2008	17,275	55,032
2009	17,656	56,575
2010	17,652	58,554
2011	17,645	60,571
2012	18,308	62,745
2013	18,903	63,510
2014	19,107	63,185
2015	19,223	62,832
2016	19,233	62,358
2017	19,278	61,665
2018	19,392	60,854
2019	19,488	61,701
2020	18,899	62,209
2021	17,314	62,239
2022	20,125	63,634
2023	20,147	65,118

Maternal mortality chart: Eswatini vs Gambia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 118 deaths per 100,000 live births in Eswatini, compared to 354 deaths in the Gambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Eswatini	Gambia
1985	580	1,454
1986	548	1,401
1987	521	1,360
1988	494	1,302
1989	505	1,258
1990	520	1,207
1991	545	1,167
1992	580	1,115
1993	609	1,072
1994	645	1,039
1995	612	999
1996	604	956
1997	550	928
1998	475	867
1999	409	830
2000	361	810
2001	307	794
2002	331	772
2003	392	749
2004	451	719
2005	529	707
2006	511	682
2007	647	675
2008	766	653
2009	855	634
2010	752	632
2011	765	634
2012	613	628
2013	491	606
2014	369	561
2015	283	527
2016	213	490
2017	151	469
2018	133	450
2019	96	422
2020	102	400
2021	219	420
2022	112	365
2023	118	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.5% in Eswatini and 4.41% in the Gambia. 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
	Eswatini	Gambia
1960	20.7%	36.2%
1961	20.4%	35.5%
1962	20%	34.8%
1963	19.6%	34.1%
1964	19.2%	33.5%
1965	18.8%	32.8%
1966	18.3%	32.1%
1967	17.9%	31.5%
1968	17.4%	30.9%
1969	17%	30.2%
1970	16.5%	29.5%
1971	16%	28.9%
1972	15.4%	28.2%
1973	14.9%	27.5%
1974	14.3%	26.9%
1975	13.7%	26.2%
1976	13.2%	25.5%
1977	12.6%	24.9%
1978	12%	24.2%
1979	11.5%	23.6%
1980	10.9%	23%
1981	10.4%	22.3%
1982	9.89%	21.7%
1983	10.4%	21%
1984	8.85%	20.4%
1985	8.37%	19.7%
1986	7.93%	19.1%
1987	7.54%	18.4%
1988	7.2%	17.8%
1989	6.93%	17.2%
1990	6.75%	16.6%
1991	6.72%	16%
1992	6.85%	15.5%
1993	7.17%	14.9%
1994	7.62%	14.4%
1995	8.12%	13.9%
1996	8.71%	13.3%
1997	9.3%	12.8%
1998	9.87%	12.3%
1999	10.4%	11.8%
2000	10.9%	11.3%
2001	11.3%	10.9%
2002	11.4%	10.4%
2003	11.6%	9.95%
2004	11.6%	9.52%
2005	11.6%	9.11%
2006	10.5%	8.71%
2007	10%	8.33%
2008	9.82%	7.98%
2009	9.25%	7.64%
2010	8.18%	7.31%
2011	6.81%	7.01%
2012	6.38%	6.73%
2013	6.16%	6.45%
2014	6.17%	6.18%
2015	5.86%	5.93%
2016	5.53%	5.7%
2017	5.43%	5.47%
2018	5.1%	5.27%
2019	5.16%	5.07%
2020	4.98%	4.89%
2021	4.76%	4.72%
2022	4.62%	4.56%
2023	4.5%	4.41%