Fertility & birth rates in Eswatini and Malawi

Fertility rate in Eswatini vs Malawi 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 3.65 in Malawi in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Eswatini vs Malawi 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	Malawi
1960	6.75	7.04
1961	6.77	7.07
1962	6.79	7.1
1963	6.8	7.13
1964	6.79	7.11
1965	6.79	7.13
1966	6.8	7.17
1967	6.77	7.21
1968	6.76	7.26
1969	6.76	7.27
1970	6.75	7.3
1971	6.74	7.31
1972	6.72	7.33
1973	6.72	7.34
1974	6.71	7.34
1975	6.71	7.36
1976	6.7	7.39
1977	6.68	7.41
1978	6.65	7.43
1979	6.61	7.47
1980	6.57	7.52
1981	6.54	7.49
1982	6.49	7.45
1983	6.43	7.36
1984	6.36	7.27
1985	6.28	7.17
1986	6.11	7.07
1987	5.9	6.97
1988	5.69	6.88
1989	5.48	6.8
1990	5.3	6.74
1991	5.13	6.68
1992	4.98	6.63
1993	4.82	6.57
1994	4.66	6.49
1995	4.52	6.39
1996	4.38	6.29
1997	4.24	6.23
1998	4.13	6.21
1999	4.09	6.12
2000	4.03	6
2001	3.94	5.94
2002	3.85	5.9
2003	3.8	5.88
2004	3.76	5.86
2005	3.7	5.85
2006	3.63	5.8
2007	3.58	5.72
2008	3.57	5.61
2009	3.5	5.45
2010	3.38	5.26
2011	3.32	5.08
2012	3.27	4.9
2013	3.24	4.76
2014	3.18	4.57
2015	3.12	4.38
2016	3.07	4.22
2017	3.02	4.11
2018	2.97	4.02
2019	2.93	3.95
2020	2.89	3.88
2021	2.84	3.79
2022	2.8	3.72
2023	2.75	3.65
2024	2.72	3.59
2025	2.68	3.53
2026	2.64	3.45
2027	2.61	3.39
2028	2.57	3.33
2029	2.54	3.29
2030	2.51	3.23
2031	2.49	3.18
2032	2.45	3.13
2033	2.42	3.09
2034	2.4	3.05
2035	2.37	3.01
2036	2.35	2.97
2037	2.32	2.93
2038	2.3	2.89
2039	2.28	2.86
2040	2.26	2.82
2041	2.24	2.79
2042	2.22	2.76
2043	2.2	2.73
2044	2.18	2.7
2045	2.16	2.67
2046	2.14	2.64
2047	2.13	2.61
2048	2.11	2.59
2049	2.1	2.57
2050	2.08	2.54

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Eswatini	Malawi
1960	46.9%	43.1%
1961	47.2%	42.9%
1962	47.4%	42.8%
1963	47.7%	42.9%
1964	47.8%	43%
1965	47.7%	43.2%
1966	47.7%	43.4%
1967	47.5%	43.7%
1968	47.3%	43.9%
1969	47.2%	44.2%
1970	47.2%	44.4%
1971	47.2%	44.6%
1972	47.3%	44.8%
1973	47.4%	44.9%
1974	47.5%	45.1%
1975	47.7%	45.2%
1976	47.9%	45.2%
1977	48.1%	45.3%
1978	48.3%	45.3%
1979	48.5%	45.3%
1980	48.7%	45.4%
1981	48.9%	45.4%
1982	49.2%	45.4%
1983	49.3%	45.5%
1984	49.4%	45.5%
1985	49.5%	45.4%
1986	49.4%	45.4%
1987	49.3%	45.1%
1988	48.7%	45%
1989	48.1%	45.2%
1990	47.6%	45.4%
1991	47.1%	45.6%
1992	46.6%	45.8%
1993	46.4%	46%
1994	47%	46.1%
1995	47.4%	46.1%
1996	46.9%	46.2%
1997	46.2%	46.2%
1998	45.3%	46.2%
1999	44.4%	46.2%
2000	43.6%	46.2%
2001	42.9%	46.1%
2002	42.3%	46.1%
2003	41.8%	46.1%
2004	41.4%	46%
2005	41.1%	46%
2006	40.8%	46.1%
2007	40.4%	46.1%
2008	39.9%	46.1%
2009	39.3%	46.2%
2010	38.8%	46.2%
2011	38.4%	46.2%
2012	38%	46.1%
2013	37.6%	46%
2014	37.2%	45.7%
2015	36.8%	45.4%
2016	36.4%	45.1%
2017	36%	44.6%
2018	35.6%	44.2%
2019	35.1%	43.7%
2020	34.7%	43.1%
2021	34.3%	42.5%
2022	34%	41.9%
2023	33.7%	41.3%
2024	33.4%	40.7%
2025	33%	40.1%
2026	32.6%	39.6%
2027	32.2%	39.1%
2028	31.8%	38.6%
2029	31.4%	38.1%
2030	31%	37.7%
2031	30.7%	37.4%
2032	30.3%	37%
2033	29.9%	36.7%
2034	29.5%	36.4%
2035	29.1%	36%
2036	28.7%	35.7%
2037	28.4%	35.3%
2038	28%	35%
2039	27.7%	34.6%
2040	27.4%	34.2%
2041	27.1%	33.9%
2042	26.8%	33.5%
2043	26.5%	33.1%
2044	26.2%	32.7%
2045	26%	32.3%
2046	25.7%	31.9%
2047	25.4%	31.5%
2048	25.1%	31.2%
2049	24.9%	30.8%
2050	24.6%	30.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 33.4% of the population in Eswatini and 40.7% in Malawi in 2024, compared to 47.6% and 45.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Eswatini and Malawi compared.

Natural population change in Eswatini vs Malawi by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.63% in Eswatini and +2.67% in Malawi. 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	Malawi
1960	9,947	85,718
1961	10,262	89,091
1962	10,601	92,463
1963	10,929	95,933
1964	11,266	97,658
1965	11,719	100,040
1966	12,282	103,512
1967	12,773	106,668
1968	13,449	110,329
1969	14,164	113,120
1970	14,873	116,822
1971	15,615	121,015
1972	16,353	125,728
1973	17,145	131,529
1974	17,971	137,819
1975	18,849	145,254
1976	19,734	153,422
1977	20,609	161,930
1978	21,466	172,503
1979	22,299	182,123
1980	23,153	192,746
1981	23,973	199,436
1982	24,742	205,386
1983	24,883	209,422
1984	26,149	212,146
1985	26,835	216,179
1986	27,096	218,519
1987	27,285	220,566
1988	27,396	226,911
1989	28,257	237,967
1990	28,349	250,159
1991	28,497	260,193
1992	28,446	269,066
1993	28,046	276,538
1994	26,703	275,439
1995	23,029	266,745
1996	21,858	270,048
1997	20,686	277,433
1998	19,762	285,407
1999	19,420	295,629
2000	18,830	300,439
2001	17,824	310,833
2002	16,924	322,863
2003	16,396	341,133
2004	15,979	361,133
2005	15,945	381,130
2006	16,133	397,123
2007	16,595	410,290
2008	17,275	421,781
2009	17,656	434,811
2010	17,652	444,468
2011	17,645	454,149
2012	18,308	460,684
2013	18,903	470,293
2014	19,107	472,418
2015	19,223	472,484
2016	19,233	474,779
2017	19,278	484,655
2018	19,392	494,348
2019	19,488	506,104
2020	18,899	514,659
2021	17,314	517,400
2022	20,125	533,450
2023	20,147	549,096

Maternal mortality chart: Eswatini vs Malawi

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 225 deaths in Malawi.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Eswatini	Malawi
1985	580	1,115
1986	548	1,118
1987	521	1,123
1988	494	1,154
1989	505	1,136
1990	520	1,112
1991	545	1,080
1992	580	1,042
1993	609	1,000
1994	645	912
1995	612	782
1996	604	713
1997	550	672
1998	475	658
1999	409	576
2000	361	506
2001	307	447
2002	331	404
2003	392	346
2004	451	304
2005	529	283
2006	511	286
2007	647	333
2008	766	430
2009	855	512
2010	752	517
2011	765	486
2012	613	447
2013	491	410
2014	369	367
2015	283	354
2016	213	312
2017	151	284
2018	133	267
2019	96	260
2020	102	256
2021	219	286
2022	112	239
2023	118	225

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.5% in Eswatini and 3.83% in Malawi. 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	Malawi
1960	20.7%	-
1961	20.4%	35.9%
1962	20%	35.8%
1963	19.6%	35.7%
1964	19.2%	35.5%
1965	18.8%	35.4%
1966	18.3%	35.3%
1967	17.9%	35.1%
1968	17.4%	35%
1969	17%	34.7%
1970	16.5%	34.4%
1971	16%	33.9%
1972	15.4%	33.2%
1973	14.9%	32.4%
1974	14.3%	31.5%
1975	13.7%	30.6%
1976	13.2%	29.7%
1977	12.6%	28.7%
1978	12%	27.6%
1979	11.5%	26.5%
1980	10.9%	25.6%
1981	10.4%	24.9%
1982	9.89%	24.5%
1983	10.4%	24.5%
1984	8.85%	24.8%
1985	8.37%	25.1%
1986	7.93%	25.4%
1987	7.54%	25.5%
1988	7.2%	25.3%
1989	6.93%	24.9%
1990	6.75%	24.3%
1991	6.72%	23.6%
1992	6.85%	22.8%
1993	7.17%	22%
1994	7.62%	21.3%
1995	8.12%	20.7%
1996	8.71%	20.2%
1997	9.3%	19.7%
1998	9.87%	19.2%
1999	10.4%	18.4%
2000	10.9%	17.3%
2001	11.3%	16%
2002	11.4%	14.6%
2003	11.6%	13.2%
2004	11.6%	11.9%
2005	11.6%	11%
2006	10.5%	10.3%
2007	10%	9.83%
2008	9.82%	9.31%
2009	9.25%	8.81%
2010	8.18%	8.3%
2011	6.81%	7.67%
2012	6.38%	6.98%
2013	6.16%	6.4%
2014	6.17%	6.02%
2015	5.86%	5.67%
2016	5.53%	5.35%
2017	5.43%	5.06%
2018	5.1%	4.75%
2019	5.16%	4.55%
2020	4.98%	4.31%
2021	4.76%	4.15%
2022	4.62%	3.99%
2023	4.5%	3.83%