Fertility & birth rates in Ethiopia and Somalia

Fertility rate in Ethiopia vs Somalia 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 6.13 in Somalia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Ethiopia vs Somalia 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	Somalia
1960	6.51	7.25
1961	6.53	7.25
1962	6.56	7.26
1963	6.59	7.26
1964	6.61	7.26
1965	6.63	7.26
1966	6.66	7.26
1967	6.68	7.25
1968	6.7	7.23
1969	6.72	7.21
1970	6.78	7.18
1971	6.84	7.15
1972	6.9	7.12
1973	6.96	7.09
1974	7.02	7.06
1975	7.08	7.03
1976	7.13	7.02
1977	7.19	7
1978	7.23	7.13
1979	7.25	7.16
1980	7.29	7.18
1981	7.31	7.23
1982	7.34	7.25
1983	7.35	7.28
1984	7.36	7.3
1985	7.34	7.33
1986	7.32	7.35
1987	7.29	7.37
1988	7.26	7.4
1989	7.23	7.42
1990	7.2	7.44
1991	7.16	7.47
1992	7.13	7.5
1993	7.09	7.53
1994	7.05	7.54
1995	7	7.58
1996	6.93	7.62
1997	6.87	7.66
1998	6.79	7.66
1999	6.72	7.66
2000	6.65	7.65
2001	6.58	7.64
2002	6.5	7.63
2003	6.4	7.6
2004	6.3	7.57
2005	6.19	7.53
2006	6.05	7.49
2007	5.89	7.46
2008	5.7	7.42
2009	5.49	7.38
2010	5.28	7.32
2011	5.08	7.27
2012	4.89	7.21
2013	4.71	7.14
2014	4.61	7.06
2015	4.53	6.98
2016	4.47	6.88
2017	4.4	6.77
2018	4.37	6.66
2019	4.35	6.56
2020	4.27	6.45
2021	4.18	6.35
2022	4.08	6.26
2023	3.99	6.13
2024	3.91	6.01
2025	3.81	5.91
2026	3.72	5.8
2027	3.64	5.68
2028	3.57	5.58
2029	3.5	5.47
2030	3.43	5.35
2031	3.36	5.25
2032	3.3	5.14
2033	3.24	5.04
2034	3.19	4.94
2035	3.14	4.84
2036	3.08	4.74
2037	3.03	4.63
2038	2.99	4.52
2039	2.94	4.44
2040	2.9	4.35
2041	2.86	4.26
2042	2.83	4.16
2043	2.79	4.07
2044	2.75	3.99
2045	2.72	3.91
2046	2.68	3.84
2047	2.65	3.78
2048	2.62	3.71
2049	2.59	3.65
2050	2.55	3.6

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Ethiopia	Somalia
1960	42.2%	44.4%
1961	42.2%	44.7%
1962	42.1%	44.8%
1963	42.2%	45%
1964	42.3%	45.1%
1965	42.5%	45.1%
1966	42.9%	44.9%
1967	43.2%	44.8%
1968	43.5%	44.7%
1969	43.8%	44.6%
1970	44.2%	44.5%
1971	44.5%	44.5%
1972	44.9%	44.4%
1973	45.2%	44.4%
1974	45.4%	44.4%
1975	45.6%	44.3%
1976	45.7%	44.3%
1977	45.9%	44.3%
1978	46.1%	44.4%
1979	46.2%	44.5%
1980	46.3%	44.6%
1981	46.4%	44.8%
1982	46.5%	45%
1983	46.4%	45.2%
1984	46.2%	45.4%
1985	46.1%	45.6%
1986	46%	45.8%
1987	46%	46%
1988	46%	46.3%
1989	46.1%	46.7%
1990	46.2%	47%
1991	46.2%	47%
1992	46.2%	46.5%
1993	46.4%	46.4%
1994	46.5%	46.5%
1995	46.7%	46.7%
1996	46.9%	46.9%
1997	47.1%	47%
1998	47.4%	47.1%
1999	47.6%	47.2%
2000	47.7%	47.4%
2001	47.8%	47.5%
2002	47.8%	47.6%
2003	47.7%	47.7%
2004	47.6%	47.9%
2005	47.4%	48.2%
2006	47.2%	48.6%
2007	46.9%	48.9%
2008	46.6%	48.9%
2009	46.2%	48.8%
2010	45.7%	48.7%
2011	45.2%	48.3%
2012	44.6%	47.9%
2013	44%	47.8%
2014	43.4%	47.7%
2015	42.9%	47.6%
2016	42.3%	47.5%
2017	41.8%	47.4%
2018	41.3%	47.3%
2019	40.9%	47.1%
2020	40.5%	47%
2021	40.1%	47%
2022	39.7%	46.8%
2023	39.4%	46.7%
2024	39.1%	46.6%
2025	38.8%	46.6%
2026	38.5%	46.5%
2027	38.3%	46.4%
2028	38.1%	46.1%
2029	37.8%	45.8%
2030	37.6%	45.4%
2031	37.3%	45.1%
2032	37%	44.7%
2033	36.6%	44.3%
2034	36.2%	43.9%
2035	35.8%	43.5%
2036	35.4%	43.1%
2037	34.9%	42.6%
2038	34.5%	42.1%
2039	34%	41.7%
2040	33.6%	41.2%
2041	33.2%	40.8%
2042	32.8%	40.3%
2043	32.4%	39.9%
2044	32%	39.4%
2045	31.7%	39%
2046	31.3%	38.6%
2047	31%	38.2%
2048	30.7%	37.8%
2049	30.3%	37.4%
2050	30%	37%

Children aged 0-14 make up 39.1% of the population in Ethiopia and 46.6% in Somalia in 2024, compared to 46.2% and 47% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Ethiopia and Somalia compared.

Natural population change in Ethiopia vs Somalia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.64% in Ethiopia and +3.34% in Somalia. 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	Somalia
1960	511,694	73,850
1961	538,518	75,513
1962	563,650	77,737
1963	590,998	79,859
1964	618,667	82,042
1965	642,359	84,448
1966	616,281	86,930
1967	695,283	89,497
1968	715,602	92,208
1969	736,428	95,045
1970	760,821	98,025
1971	787,047	101,196
1972	779,808	104,493
1973	807,535	108,038
1974	777,306	104,813
1975	801,425	108,998
1976	899,577	113,319
1977	929,381	124,818
1978	943,388	132,689
1979	987,203	151,016
1980	1,007,516	174,790
1981	1,018,838	185,211
1982	1,080,853	182,793
1983	863,472	190,775
1984	920,670	199,017
1985	997,050	207,960
1986	1,050,277	218,416
1987	1,356,853	231,580
1988	1,393,356	215,599
1989	1,441,769	225,255
1990	1,479,663	225,162
1991	1,579,416	53,052
1992	1,673,839	57,495
1993	1,734,851	232,960
1994	1,788,133	246,950
1995	1,831,068	254,509
1996	1,896,364	264,807
1997	1,945,112	271,894
1998	1,984,989	284,779
1999	2,010,987	295,523
2000	2,083,622	306,651
2001	2,137,791	319,059
2002	2,189,683	331,215
2003	2,231,223	341,192
2004	2,296,999	351,959
2005	2,353,375	363,117
2006	2,393,585	372,597
2007	2,436,753	380,303
2008	2,465,283	394,258
2009	2,467,118	405,784
2010	2,498,048	385,571
2011	2,527,811	203,213
2012	2,533,398	399,468
2013	2,546,020	448,518
2014	2,623,647	464,481
2015	2,713,529	481,573
2016	2,809,889	495,132
2017	2,899,143	478,556
2018	3,015,231	514,244
2019	3,132,780	548,756
2020	3,199,718	561,311
2021	3,204,673	566,399
2022	3,300,114	551,450
2023	3,338,649	608,203

Maternal mortality chart: Ethiopia vs Somalia

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 563 deaths in Somalia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Ethiopia	Somalia
1985	1,329	1,465
1986	1,317	1,452
1987	1,289	1,393
1988	1,306	1,423
1989	1,296	1,395
1990	1,320	1,358
1991	1,239	1,431
1992	1,218	1,339
1993	1,168	1,195
1994	1,113	1,254
1995	1,060	1,210
1996	1,008	1,225
1997	957	1,206
1998	911	1,177
1999	901	1,170
2000	870	1,150
2001	856	1,129
2002	826	1,121
2003	797	1,111
2004	764	1,104
2005	754	1,086
2006	729	1,085
2007	704	1,074
2008	678	1,035
2009	649	995
2010	619	1,062
2011	588	972
2012	545	894
2013	494	855
2014	444	816
2015	401	784
2016	364	754
2017	327	716
2018	297	727
2019	269	656
2020	244	655
2021	250	726
2022	207	622
2023	195	563

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.65% in Ethiopia and 10.4% in Somalia. 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	Somalia
1966	27.8%	-
1967	24.9%	-
1968	24.8%	-
1969	24.8%	-
1970	24.7%	-
1971	24.7%	-
1972	24.7%	-
1973	24.6%	-
1974	28.3%	-
1975	28.2%	-
1976	24.5%	-
1977	24.5%	-
1978	24.4%	-
1979	24.2%	-
1980	24%	-
1981	23.8%	-
1982	23.5%	20.1%
1983	32%	19.8%
1984	31.4%	19.5%
1985	30.3%	19.3%
1986	29.7%	19%
1987	21.5%	18.8%
1988	21%	18.6%
1989	20.6%	18.3%
1990	20.2%	18%
1991	19.7%	44.3%
1992	19.1%	45.6%
1993	18.5%	17.3%
1994	17.9%	17.2%
1995	17.2%	17.2%
1996	16.6%	17.2%
1997	15.9%	17.2%
1998	15.3%	17.2%
1999	14.7%	17.2%
2000	14%	17.2%
2001	13.4%	17.2%
2002	12.8%	17.2%
2003	12.1%	17.2%
2004	11.5%	17.2%
2005	10.9%	17.2%
2006	10.3%	17.2%
2007	9.74%	17%
2008	9.23%	16.6%
2009	8.76%	16.2%
2010	8.32%	18.6%
2011	7.91%	35.9%
2012	7.53%	18.4%
2013	7.16%	14.3%
2014	6.82%	13.8%
2015	6.49%	13.4%
2016	6.17%	13%
2017	5.89%	15.5%
2018	5.64%	13.6%
2019	5.41%	11.8%
2020	5.2%	11.4%
2021	5%	11.1%
2022	4.82%	14.3%
2023	4.65%	10.4%