Fertility & birth rates in Ethiopia and Ghana

Fertility rate in Ethiopia vs Ghana chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Ethiopia was 3.99 children per woman in 2023, compared to 3.4 in Ghana in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Ethiopia vs Ghana population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Ethiopia	Ghana
1960	6.51	6.89
1961	6.53	6.91
1962	6.56	6.94
1963	6.59	6.94
1964	6.61	6.9
1965	6.63	6.88
1966	6.66	6.86
1967	6.68	6.89
1968	6.7	6.89
1969	6.72	6.95
1970	6.78	6.95
1971	6.84	6.95
1972	6.9	6.92
1973	6.96	6.87
1974	7.02	6.82
1975	7.08	6.76
1976	7.13	6.7
1977	7.19	6.64
1978	7.23	6.56
1979	7.25	6.51
1980	7.29	6.47
1981	7.31	6.42
1982	7.34	6.31
1983	7.35	6.23
1984	7.36	6.15
1985	7.34	6.12
1986	7.32	6.08
1987	7.29	6.02
1988	7.26	5.92
1989	7.23	5.82
1990	7.2	5.74
1991	7.16	5.63
1992	7.13	5.52
1993	7.09	5.41
1994	7.05	5.25
1995	7	5.11
1996	6.93	4.96
1997	6.87	4.88
1998	6.79	4.83
1999	6.72	4.82
2000	6.65	4.83
2001	6.58	4.77
2002	6.5	4.69
2003	6.4	4.6
2004	6.3	4.5
2005	6.19	4.5
2006	6.05	4.4
2007	5.89	4.29
2008	5.7	4.22
2009	5.49	4.18
2010	5.28	4.18
2011	5.08	4.18
2012	4.89	4.15
2013	4.71	4.11
2014	4.61	4.03
2015	4.53	3.98
2016	4.47	3.87
2017	4.4	3.72
2018	4.37	3.65
2019	4.35	3.59
2020	4.27	3.54
2021	4.18	3.49
2022	4.08	3.43
2023	3.99	3.4
2024	3.91	3.34
2025	3.81	3.3
2026	3.72	3.26
2027	3.64	3.22
2028	3.57	3.18
2029	3.5	3.14
2030	3.43	3.1
2031	3.36	3.06
2032	3.3	3.03
2033	3.24	2.99
2034	3.19	2.96
2035	3.14	2.93
2036	3.08	2.9
2037	3.03	2.87
2038	2.99	2.84
2039	2.94	2.81
2040	2.9	2.78
2041	2.86	2.76
2042	2.83	2.73
2043	2.79	2.71
2044	2.75	2.68
2045	2.72	2.66
2046	2.68	2.64
2047	2.65	2.62
2048	2.62	2.59
2049	2.59	2.57
2050	2.55	2.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Ethiopia	Ghana
1960	42.2%	45.4%
1961	42.2%	45.9%
1962	42.1%	46.4%
1963	42.2%	46.8%
1964	42.3%	47.1%
1965	42.5%	47.4%
1966	42.9%	47.6%
1967	43.2%	47.8%
1968	43.5%	47.9%
1969	43.8%	48.1%
1970	44.2%	48.2%
1971	44.5%	48.4%
1972	44.9%	48.4%
1973	45.2%	48.4%
1974	45.4%	48.3%
1975	45.6%	48.2%
1976	45.7%	47.9%
1977	45.9%	47.5%
1978	46.1%	47%
1979	46.2%	46.5%
1980	46.3%	46.2%
1981	46.4%	45.9%
1982	46.5%	45.7%
1983	46.4%	45.4%
1984	46.2%	45.2%
1985	46.1%	45.3%
1986	46%	45.4%
1987	46%	45.5%
1988	46%	45.4%
1989	46.1%	45.4%
1990	46.2%	45.3%
1991	46.2%	45.2%
1992	46.2%	45%
1993	46.4%	44.8%
1994	46.5%	44.5%
1995	46.7%	44.2%
1996	46.9%	43.9%
1997	47.1%	43.5%
1998	47.4%	43.1%
1999	47.6%	42.7%
2000	47.7%	42.3%
2001	47.8%	41.9%
2002	47.8%	41.5%
2003	47.7%	41.1%
2004	47.6%	40.7%
2005	47.4%	40.4%
2006	47.2%	40.1%
2007	46.9%	39.8%
2008	46.6%	39.5%
2009	46.2%	39.3%
2010	45.7%	39.1%
2011	45.2%	39%
2012	44.6%	38.9%
2013	44%	38.9%
2014	43.4%	38.8%
2015	42.9%	38.6%
2016	42.3%	38.4%
2017	41.8%	38.1%
2018	41.3%	37.8%
2019	40.9%	37.6%
2020	40.5%	37.2%
2021	40.1%	36.9%
2022	39.7%	36.5%
2023	39.4%	36.2%
2024	39.1%	35.8%
2025	38.8%	35.4%
2026	38.5%	35%
2027	38.3%	34.6%
2028	38.1%	34.1%
2029	37.8%	33.7%
2030	37.6%	33.3%
2031	37.3%	32.8%
2032	37%	32.5%
2033	36.6%	32.2%
2034	36.2%	31.9%
2035	35.8%	31.6%
2036	35.4%	31.4%
2037	34.9%	31.2%
2038	34.5%	30.9%
2039	34%	30.7%
2040	33.6%	30.5%
2041	33.2%	30.3%
2042	32.8%	30.1%
2043	32.4%	29.8%
2044	32%	29.6%
2045	31.7%	29.4%
2046	31.3%	29.2%
2047	31%	29%
2048	30.7%	28.8%
2049	30.3%	28.5%
2050	30%	28.3%

Children aged 0-14 make up 39.1% of the population in Ethiopia and 35.8% in Ghana in 2024, compared to 46.2% and 45.3% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Ethiopia and Ghana compared.

Natural population change in Ethiopia vs Ghana by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.64% in Ethiopia and +2.1% in Ghana. 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
	Ethiopia	Ghana
1960	511,694	217,134
1961	538,518	222,372
1962	563,650	223,842
1963	590,998	225,367
1964	618,667	226,685
1965	642,359	229,061
1966	616,281	231,440
1967	695,283	237,156
1968	715,602	242,821
1969	736,428	251,925
1970	760,821	257,938
1971	787,047	265,442
1972	779,808	275,236
1973	807,535	283,385
1974	777,306	290,796
1975	801,425	298,267
1976	899,577	305,769
1977	929,381	315,429
1978	943,388	324,428
1979	987,203	334,848
1980	1,007,516	346,816
1981	1,018,838	359,572
1982	1,080,853	369,061
1983	863,472	379,846
1984	920,670	392,053
1985	997,050	401,722
1986	1,050,277	411,191
1987	1,356,853	419,328
1988	1,393,356	425,031
1989	1,441,769	432,541
1990	1,479,663	442,211
1991	1,579,416	448,159
1992	1,673,839	452,156
1993	1,734,851	454,669
1994	1,788,133	449,589
1995	1,831,068	451,748
1996	1,896,364	450,259
1997	1,945,112	459,822
1998	1,984,989	471,313
1999	2,010,987	487,210
2000	2,083,622	508,738
2001	2,137,791	519,382
2002	2,189,683	528,620
2003	2,231,223	536,656
2004	2,296,999	543,339
2005	2,353,375	563,234
2006	2,393,585	569,474
2007	2,436,753	572,332
2008	2,465,283	579,695
2009	2,467,118	592,825
2010	2,498,048	613,133
2011	2,527,811	631,501
2012	2,533,398	646,595
2013	2,546,020	658,638
2014	2,623,647	660,829
2015	2,713,529	667,729
2016	2,809,889	659,910
2017	2,899,143	641,218
2018	3,015,231	641,551
2019	3,132,780	642,403
2020	3,199,718	637,469
2021	3,204,673	635,805
2022	3,300,114	646,441
2023	3,338,649	651,094

Maternal mortality chart: Ethiopia vs Ghana

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 195 deaths per 100,000 live births in Ethiopia, compared to 234 deaths in Ghana.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Ethiopia	Ghana
1985	1,329	943
1986	1,317	908
1987	1,289	873
1988	1,306	834
1989	1,296	799
1990	1,320	769
1991	1,239	745
1992	1,218	718
1993	1,168	696
1994	1,113	670
1995	1,060	630
1996	1,008	591
1997	957	553
1998	911	521
1999	901	490
2000	870	472
2001	856	460
2002	826	434
2003	797	410
2004	764	403
2005	754	390
2006	729	385
2007	704	377
2008	678	380
2009	649	369
2010	619	363
2011	588	356
2012	545	351
2013	494	338
2014	444	317
2015	401	310
2016	364	296
2017	327	287
2018	297	276
2019	269	260
2020	244	253
2021	250	264
2022	207	239
2023	195	234

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.65% in Ethiopia and 3.71% in Ghana. 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
	Ethiopia	Ghana
1960	-	20.9%
1961	-	20.7%
1962	-	20.5%
1963	-	20.4%
1964	-	20.3%
1965	-	20.3%
1966	27.8%	20.3%
1967	24.9%	20.3%
1968	24.8%	20.3%
1969	24.8%	20.3%
1970	24.7%	20.2%
1971	24.7%	20.1%
1972	24.7%	19.9%
1973	24.6%	19.6%
1974	28.3%	19.2%
1975	28.2%	18.7%
1976	24.5%	18.2%
1977	24.5%	17.7%
1978	24.4%	17.2%
1979	24.2%	16.9%
1980	24%	16.7%
1981	23.8%	16.6%
1982	23.5%	16.4%
1983	32%	16.2%
1984	31.4%	15.9%
1985	30.3%	15.5%
1986	29.7%	15%
1987	21.5%	14.4%
1988	21%	13.8%
1989	20.6%	13.3%
1990	20.2%	12.8%
1991	19.7%	12.3%
1992	19.1%	12%
1993	18.5%	11.8%
1994	17.9%	11.6%
1995	17.2%	11.5%
1996	16.6%	11.3%
1997	15.9%	11.1%
1998	15.3%	10.8%
1999	14.7%	10.4%
2000	14%	10%
2001	13.4%	9.61%
2002	12.8%	9.21%
2003	12.1%	8.85%
2004	11.5%	8.52%
2005	10.9%	8.22%
2006	10.3%	7.93%
2007	9.74%	7.63%
2008	9.23%	7.31%
2009	8.76%	6.99%
2010	8.32%	6.65%
2011	7.91%	6.33%
2012	7.53%	6.02%
2013	7.16%	5.74%
2014	6.82%	5.48%
2015	6.49%	5.25%
2016	6.17%	5.02%
2017	5.89%	4.81%
2018	5.64%	4.6%
2019	5.41%	4.39%
2020	5.2%	4.2%
2021	5%	4.02%
2022	4.82%	3.85%
2023	4.65%	3.71%