Fertility & birth rates in Eswatini and South Africa

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

Check Eswatini 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
	Eswatini	South Africa
1960	6.75	6.11
1961	6.77	6.08
1962	6.79	6.05
1963	6.8	6.01
1964	6.79	5.96
1965	6.79	5.89
1966	6.8	5.91
1967	6.77	5.85
1968	6.76	5.78
1969	6.76	5.72
1970	6.75	5.63
1971	6.74	5.57
1972	6.72	5.49
1973	6.72	5.41
1974	6.71	5.3
1975	6.71	5.19
1976	6.7	5.07
1977	6.68	4.94
1978	6.65	4.85
1979	6.61	4.82
1980	6.57	4.78
1981	6.54	4.71
1982	6.49	4.7
1983	6.43	4.63
1984	6.36	4.57
1985	6.28	4.5
1986	6.11	4.41
1987	5.9	4.35
1988	5.69	4.18
1989	5.48	3.98
1990	5.3	3.72
1991	5.13	3.62
1992	4.98	3.48
1993	4.82	3.37
1994	4.66	3.26
1995	4.52	3.17
1996	4.38	2.99
1997	4.24	2.73
1998	4.13	2.63
1999	4.09	2.56
2000	4.03	2.41
2001	3.94	2.37
2002	3.85	2.32
2003	3.8	2.36
2004	3.76	2.44
2005	3.7	2.51
2006	3.63	2.55
2007	3.58	2.55
2008	3.57	2.68
2009	3.5	2.5
2010	3.38	2.44
2011	3.32	2.44
2012	3.27	2.45
2013	3.24	2.43
2014	3.18	2.42
2015	3.12	2.36
2016	3.07	2.26
2017	3.02	2.28
2018	2.97	2.27
2019	2.93	2.26
2020	2.89	2.26
2021	2.84	2.25
2022	2.8	2.23
2023	2.75	2.22
2024	2.72	2.21
2025	2.68	2.19
2026	2.64	2.17
2027	2.61	2.15
2028	2.57	2.13
2029	2.54	2.12
2030	2.51	2.1
2031	2.49	2.09
2032	2.45	2.07
2033	2.42	2.06
2034	2.4	2.05
2035	2.37	2.04
2036	2.35	2.03
2037	2.32	2.02
2038	2.3	2
2039	2.28	1.99
2040	2.26	1.98
2041	2.24	1.98
2042	2.22	1.97
2043	2.2	1.96
2044	2.18	1.95
2045	2.16	1.94
2046	2.14	1.93
2047	2.13	1.92
2048	2.11	1.91
2049	2.1	1.9
2050	2.08	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Eswatini	South Africa
1960	46.9%	42.1%
1961	47.2%	42.1%
1962	47.4%	42.1%
1963	47.7%	42.1%
1964	47.8%	42.1%
1965	47.7%	42.1%
1966	47.7%	42.1%
1967	47.5%	42.2%
1968	47.3%	42.2%
1969	47.2%	42.2%
1970	47.2%	42.3%
1971	47.2%	42.2%
1972	47.3%	42.2%
1973	47.4%	42.1%
1974	47.5%	42%
1975	47.7%	41.9%
1976	47.9%	41.8%
1977	48.1%	41.7%
1978	48.3%	41.5%
1979	48.5%	41.3%
1980	48.7%	40.9%
1981	48.9%	40.5%
1982	49.2%	40.1%
1983	49.3%	39.8%
1984	49.4%	39.5%
1985	49.5%	39.2%
1986	49.4%	38.9%
1987	49.3%	38.7%
1988	48.7%	38.4%
1989	48.1%	38.1%
1990	47.6%	37.7%
1991	47.1%	37.5%
1992	46.6%	37.6%
1993	46.4%	37.3%
1994	47%	37.2%
1995	47.4%	37.5%
1996	46.9%	37.5%
1997	46.2%	37.2%
1998	45.3%	36.5%
1999	44.4%	35.7%
2000	43.6%	34.9%
2001	42.9%	34%
2002	42.3%	33.2%
2003	41.8%	32.3%
2004	41.4%	31.6%
2005	41.1%	31.1%
2006	40.8%	30.6%
2007	40.4%	30.2%
2008	39.9%	29.9%
2009	39.3%	29.7%
2010	38.8%	29.4%
2011	38.4%	29.1%
2012	38%	28.9%
2013	37.6%	28.7%
2014	37.2%	28.5%
2015	36.8%	28.3%
2016	36.4%	28.3%
2017	36%	28.3%
2018	35.6%	27.9%
2019	35.1%	27.4%
2020	34.7%	27%
2021	34.3%	26.6%
2022	34%	26.3%
2023	33.7%	26.1%
2024	33.4%	25.9%
2025	33%	25.7%
2026	32.6%	25.6%
2027	32.2%	25.4%
2028	31.8%	25.3%
2029	31.4%	25.2%
2030	31%	25.2%
2031	30.7%	25.1%
2032	30.3%	25%
2033	29.9%	24.8%
2034	29.5%	24.5%
2035	29.1%	24.3%
2036	28.7%	23.9%
2037	28.4%	23.6%
2038	28%	23.4%
2039	27.7%	23.1%
2040	27.4%	22.9%
2041	27.1%	22.7%
2042	26.8%	22.5%
2043	26.5%	22.4%
2044	26.2%	22.2%
2045	26%	22.1%
2046	25.7%	21.9%
2047	25.4%	21.8%
2048	25.1%	21.7%
2049	24.9%	21.6%
2050	24.6%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 33.4% of the population in Eswatini and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 47.6% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Eswatini and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Eswatini vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.63% in Eswatini 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
	Eswatini	South Africa
1960	9,947	421,263
1961	10,262	437,851
1962	10,601	455,634
1963	10,929	473,821
1964	11,266	490,606
1965	11,719	506,632
1966	12,282	534,862
1967	12,773	553,741
1968	13,449	571,841
1969	14,164	590,794
1970	14,873	605,102
1971	15,615	624,761
1972	16,353	638,754
1973	17,145	651,596
1974	17,971	658,438
1975	18,849	667,862
1976	19,734	675,011
1977	20,609	680,929
1978	21,466	694,341
1979	22,299	716,541
1980	23,153	738,415
1981	23,973	767,833
1982	24,742	807,550
1983	24,883	837,013
1984	26,149	869,011
1985	26,835	893,889
1986	27,096	903,644
1987	27,285	922,330
1988	27,396	909,221
1989	28,257	884,629
1990	28,349	835,421
1991	28,497	827,296
1992	28,446	794,415
1993	28,046	789,220
1994	26,703	698,609
1995	23,029	743,488
1996	21,858	710,868
1997	20,686	667,969
1998	19,762	627,027
1999	19,420	594,643
2000	18,830	526,963
2001	17,824	484,801
2002	16,924	430,926
2003	16,396	415,018
2004	15,979	442,540
2005	15,945	464,464
2006	16,133	487,584
2007	16,595	503,567
2008	17,275	595,332
2009	17,656	554,115
2010	17,652	566,834
2011	17,645	601,708
2012	18,308	643,723
2013	18,903	652,427
2014	19,107	674,754
2015	19,223	668,771
2016	19,233	641,365
2017	19,278	645,975
2018	19,392	648,319
2019	19,488	652,130
2020	18,899	595,873
2021	17,314	456,411
2022	20,125	603,636
2023	20,147	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Eswatini vs South Africa

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 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Eswatini	South Africa
1985	580	208
1986	548	200
1987	521	192
1988	494	184
1989	505	177
1990	520	170
1991	545	162
1992	580	152
1993	609	145
1994	645	133
1995	612	125
1996	604	150
1997	550	152
1998	475	152
1999	409	151
2000	361	175
2001	307	192
2002	331	225
2003	392	245
2004	451	259
2005	529	279
2006	511	283
2007	647	272
2008	766	272
2009	855	241
2010	752	226
2011	765	202
2012	613	194
2013	491	180
2014	369	162
2015	283	150
2016	213	141
2017	151	134
2018	133	128
2019	96	119
2020	102	118
2021	219	191
2022	112	129
2023	118	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.5% in Eswatini 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
	Eswatini	South Africa
1960	20.7%	-
1961	20.4%	-
1962	20%	-
1963	19.6%	-
1964	19.2%	-
1965	18.8%	-
1966	18.3%	-
1967	17.9%	-
1968	17.4%	-
1969	17%	-
1970	16.5%	-
1971	16%	-
1972	15.4%	-
1973	14.9%	-
1974	14.3%	13.2%
1975	13.7%	12.5%
1976	13.2%	11.8%
1977	12.6%	11.1%
1978	12%	10.5%
1979	11.5%	9.88%
1980	10.9%	9.35%
1981	10.4%	8.84%
1982	9.89%	8.39%
1983	10.4%	7.98%
1984	8.85%	7.6%
1985	8.37%	7.24%
1986	7.93%	6.89%
1987	7.54%	6.56%
1988	7.2%	6.26%
1989	6.93%	6.01%
1990	6.75%	5.82%
1991	6.72%	5.7%
1992	6.85%	5.66%
1993	7.17%	5.7%
1994	7.62%	5.82%
1995	8.12%	5.95%
1996	8.71%	6.11%
1997	9.3%	6.29%
1998	9.87%	6.56%
1999	10.4%	6.85%
2000	10.9%	7.11%
2001	11.3%	7.43%
2002	11.4%	7.69%
2003	11.6%	7.93%
2004	11.6%	8.1%
2005	11.6%	8.03%
2006	10.5%	7.75%
2007	10%	7.19%
2008	9.82%	6.42%
2009	9.25%	5.7%
2010	8.18%	5%
2011	6.81%	4.5%
2012	6.38%	4.25%
2013	6.16%	4.1%
2014	6.17%	3.96%
2015	5.86%	3.82%
2016	5.53%	3.68%
2017	5.43%	3.58%
2018	5.1%	3.49%
2019	5.16%	3.45%
2020	4.98%	3.41%
2021	4.76%	3.41%
2022	4.62%	3.44%
2023	4.5%	3.47%