Fertility & birth rates in Eswatini and Zambia

Fertility rate in Eswatini vs Zambia 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 4.1 in Zambia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Eswatini vs Zambia 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	Zambia
1960	6.75	6.95
1961	6.77	6.98
1962	6.79	7.01
1963	6.8	7.06
1964	6.79	7.09
1965	6.79	7.12
1966	6.8	7.14
1967	6.77	7.15
1968	6.76	7.18
1969	6.76	7.18
1970	6.75	7.22
1971	6.74	7.26
1972	6.72	7.3
1973	6.72	7.34
1974	6.71	7.36
1975	6.71	7.42
1976	6.7	7.39
1977	6.68	7.35
1978	6.65	7.29
1979	6.61	7.22
1980	6.57	7.14
1981	6.54	7.07
1982	6.49	7.04
1983	6.43	7.01
1984	6.36	6.97
1985	6.28	6.93
1986	6.11	6.87
1987	5.9	6.8
1988	5.69	6.7
1989	5.48	6.64
1990	5.3	6.57
1991	5.13	6.46
1992	4.98	6.35
1993	4.82	6.3
1994	4.66	6.26
1995	4.52	6.23
1996	4.38	6.18
1997	4.24	6.12
1998	4.13	6.07
1999	4.09	6
2000	4.03	5.92
2001	3.94	5.85
2002	3.85	5.77
2003	3.8	5.71
2004	3.76	5.7
2005	3.7	5.7
2006	3.63	5.68
2007	3.58	5.61
2008	3.57	5.53
2009	3.5	5.45
2010	3.38	5.36
2011	3.32	5.26
2012	3.27	5.14
2013	3.24	5.01
2014	3.18	4.89
2015	3.12	4.78
2016	3.07	4.67
2017	3.02	4.57
2018	2.97	4.49
2019	2.93	4.42
2020	2.89	4.32
2021	2.84	4.25
2022	2.8	4.18
2023	2.75	4.1
2024	2.72	4.04
2025	2.68	3.97
2026	2.64	3.91
2027	2.61	3.85
2028	2.57	3.77
2029	2.54	3.72
2030	2.51	3.67
2031	2.49	3.61
2032	2.45	3.56
2033	2.42	3.5
2034	2.4	3.45
2035	2.37	3.4
2036	2.35	3.35
2037	2.32	3.3
2038	2.3	3.25
2039	2.28	3.19
2040	2.26	3.15
2041	2.24	3.11
2042	2.22	3.07
2043	2.2	3.03
2044	2.18	3
2045	2.16	2.96
2046	2.14	2.93
2047	2.13	2.9
2048	2.11	2.87
2049	2.1	2.84
2050	2.08	2.81

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Eswatini	Zambia
1960	46.9%	46%
1961	47.2%	46.2%
1962	47.4%	46.3%
1963	47.7%	46.5%
1964	47.8%	46.7%
1965	47.7%	46.9%
1966	47.7%	46.9%
1967	47.5%	47%
1968	47.3%	47.1%
1969	47.2%	47.2%
1970	47.2%	47.4%
1971	47.2%	47.7%
1972	47.3%	48%
1973	47.4%	48.3%
1974	47.5%	48.6%
1975	47.7%	48.8%
1976	47.9%	49.1%
1977	48.1%	49.2%
1978	48.3%	49.4%
1979	48.5%	49.5%
1980	48.7%	49.5%
1981	48.9%	49.4%
1982	49.2%	49.3%
1983	49.3%	49.1%
1984	49.4%	49%
1985	49.5%	48.9%
1986	49.4%	48.8%
1987	49.3%	48.7%
1988	48.7%	48.6%
1989	48.1%	48.5%
1990	47.6%	48.4%
1991	47.1%	48.3%
1992	46.6%	48.2%
1993	46.4%	48.2%
1994	47%	48.2%
1995	47.4%	48.2%
1996	46.9%	48.2%
1997	46.2%	48.2%
1998	45.3%	48.2%
1999	44.4%	48.1%
2000	43.6%	48%
2001	42.9%	47.8%
2002	42.3%	47.6%
2003	41.8%	47.4%
2004	41.4%	47.3%
2005	41.1%	47.1%
2006	40.8%	47%
2007	40.4%	46.8%
2008	39.9%	46.6%
2009	39.3%	46.4%
2010	38.8%	46.3%
2011	38.4%	46.1%
2012	38%	45.9%
2013	37.6%	45.7%
2014	37.2%	45.5%
2015	36.8%	45.2%
2016	36.4%	44.9%
2017	36%	44.5%
2018	35.6%	44.1%
2019	35.1%	43.8%
2020	34.7%	43.3%
2021	34.3%	42.9%
2022	34%	42.4%
2023	33.7%	42%
2024	33.4%	41.5%
2025	33%	41%
2026	32.6%	40.5%
2027	32.2%	40%
2028	31.8%	39.6%
2029	31.4%	39.2%
2030	31%	38.8%
2031	30.7%	38.5%
2032	30.3%	38.1%
2033	29.9%	37.8%
2034	29.5%	37.5%
2035	29.1%	37.1%
2036	28.7%	36.8%
2037	28.4%	36.5%
2038	28%	36.1%
2039	27.7%	35.8%
2040	27.4%	35.4%
2041	27.1%	35.1%
2042	26.8%	34.7%
2043	26.5%	34.4%
2044	26.2%	34%
2045	26%	33.7%
2046	25.7%	33.3%
2047	25.4%	33%
2048	25.1%	32.6%
2049	24.9%	32.3%
2050	24.6%	32%

Children aged 0-14 make up 33.4% of the population in Eswatini and 41.5% in Zambia in 2024, compared to 47.6% and 48.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Eswatini and Zambia compared.

Natural population change in Eswatini vs Zambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.63% in Eswatini and +2.87% in Zambia. 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	Zambia
1960	9,947	102,335
1961	10,262	106,318
1962	10,601	110,173
1963	10,929	114,555
1964	11,266	117,197
1965	11,719	122,814
1966	12,282	127,164
1967	12,773	131,938
1968	13,449	137,315
1969	14,164	142,660
1970	14,873	149,380
1971	15,615	155,249
1972	16,353	161,648
1973	17,145	168,258
1974	17,971	174,484
1975	18,849	182,258
1976	19,734	186,762
1977	20,609	191,557
1978	21,466	194,933
1979	22,299	197,578
1980	23,153	198,817
1981	23,973	202,822
1982	24,742	207,621
1983	24,883	212,712
1984	26,149	216,695
1985	26,835	221,351
1986	27,096	224,768
1987	27,285	227,813
1988	27,396	230,118
1989	28,257	233,429
1990	28,349	235,835
1991	28,497	237,957
1992	28,446	239,953
1993	28,046	245,917
1994	26,703	252,023
1995	23,029	257,897
1996	21,858	262,468
1997	20,686	268,198
1998	19,762	275,568
1999	19,420	283,297
2000	18,830	293,186
2001	17,824	302,682
2002	16,924	316,041
2003	16,396	331,189
2004	15,979	349,352
2005	15,945	368,756
2006	16,133	387,891
2007	16,595	403,729
2008	17,275	419,560
2009	17,656	434,458
2010	17,652	448,337
2011	17,645	459,743
2012	18,308	469,406
2013	18,903	476,846
2014	19,107	483,663
2015	19,223	491,021
2016	19,233	497,521
2017	19,278	504,630
2018	19,392	515,644
2019	19,488	528,089
2020	18,899	536,484
2021	17,314	535,629
2022	20,125	563,456
2023	20,147	577,660

Maternal mortality chart: Eswatini vs Zambia

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 85 deaths in Zambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Eswatini	Zambia
1985	580	596
1986	548	619
1987	521	630
1988	494	635
1989	505	635
1990	520	625
1991	545	611
1992	580	581
1993	609	532
1994	645	507
1995	612	466
1996	604	433
1997	550	403
1998	475	392
1999	409	378
2000	361	340
2001	307	306
2002	331	274
2003	392	250
2004	451	260
2005	529	264
2006	511	262
2007	647	324
2008	766	394
2009	855	406
2010	752	332
2011	765	291
2012	613	256
2013	491	213
2014	369	174
2015	283	154
2016	213	158
2017	151	141
2018	133	117
2019	96	103
2020	102	99
2021	219	140
2022	112	89
2023	118	85

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.5% in Eswatini and 4.47% in Zambia. 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	Zambia
1960	20.7%	20.5%
1961	20.4%	20.1%
1962	20%	19.8%
1963	19.6%	19.5%
1964	19.2%	19.2%
1965	18.8%	19%
1966	18.3%	18.9%
1967	17.9%	18.7%
1968	17.4%	18.5%
1969	17%	18.3%
1970	16.5%	17.9%
1971	16%	17.4%
1972	15.4%	16.9%
1973	14.9%	16.3%
1974	14.3%	15.9%
1975	13.7%	15.5%
1976	13.2%	15.4%
1977	12.6%	15.3%
1978	12%	15.3%
1979	11.5%	15.4%
1980	10.9%	15.5%
1981	10.4%	15.6%
1982	9.89%	15.7%
1983	10.4%	15.9%
1984	8.85%	16.2%
1985	8.37%	16.6%
1986	7.93%	17%
1987	7.54%	17.3%
1988	7.2%	17.7%
1989	6.93%	17.9%
1990	6.75%	18.1%
1991	6.72%	18.1%
1992	6.85%	18.1%
1993	7.17%	17.9%
1994	7.62%	17.7%
1995	8.12%	17.3%
1996	8.71%	17%
1997	9.3%	16.7%
1998	9.87%	16.3%
1999	10.4%	15.9%
2000	10.9%	15.3%
2001	11.3%	14.4%
2002	11.4%	13.4%
2003	11.6%	12.4%
2004	11.6%	11.4%
2005	11.6%	10.5%
2006	10.5%	9.71%
2007	10%	9.14%
2008	9.82%	8.62%
2009	9.25%	8%
2010	8.18%	7.57%
2011	6.81%	7.31%
2012	6.38%	7.04%
2013	6.16%	6.72%
2014	6.17%	6.38%
2015	5.86%	6.15%
2016	5.53%	5.9%
2017	5.43%	5.61%
2018	5.1%	5.52%
2019	5.16%	5.41%
2020	4.98%	5.24%
2021	4.76%	4.92%
2022	4.62%	4.67%
2023	4.5%	4.47%