Fertility & birth rates in Finland and South Korea

Fertility rate in Finland vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Finland was 1.26 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Finland vs South Korea population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Finland	South Korea
1960	2.72	5.99
1961	2.72	5.8
1962	2.68	5.56
1963	2.68	5.33
1964	2.59	5.07
1965	2.48	4.89
1966	2.41	4.78
1967	2.32	4.62
1968	2.14	4.51
1969	1.93	4.45
1970	1.83	4.53
1971	1.68	4.54
1972	1.58	4.12
1973	1.49	4.07
1974	1.61	3.77
1975	1.68	3.43
1976	1.7	3
1977	1.68	2.99
1978	1.64	2.64
1979	1.64	2.9
1980	1.63	2.82
1981	1.64	2.57
1982	1.71	2.39
1983	1.74	2.06
1984	1.69	1.74
1985	1.64	1.66
1986	1.6	1.58
1987	1.59	1.53
1988	1.69	1.55
1989	1.71	1.56
1990	1.78	1.57
1991	1.79	1.71
1992	1.85	1.76
1993	1.81	1.65
1994	1.85	1.66
1995	1.81	1.63
1996	1.78	1.57
1997	1.75	1.54
1998	1.7	1.46
1999	1.73	1.43
2000	1.73	1.48
2001	1.73	1.31
2002	1.72	1.18
2003	1.76	1.19
2004	1.8	1.16
2005	1.8	1.09
2006	1.84	1.13
2007	1.83	1.26
2008	1.85	1.19
2009	1.86	1.15
2010	1.87	1.23
2011	1.83	1.24
2012	1.8	1.3
2013	1.75	1.19
2014	1.71	1.21
2015	1.65	1.24
2016	1.57	1.17
2017	1.49	1.05
2018	1.41	0.98
2019	1.35	0.92
2020	1.37	0.84
2021	1.46	0.81
2022	1.32	0.78
2023	1.26	0.72
2024	1.27	0.73
2025	1.28	0.75
2026	1.28	0.76
2027	1.29	0.78
2028	1.3	0.79
2029	1.3	0.8
2030	1.31	0.82
2031	1.31	0.83
2032	1.32	0.84
2033	1.32	0.85
2034	1.33	0.86
2035	1.34	0.88
2036	1.34	0.89
2037	1.35	0.9
2038	1.35	0.91
2039	1.35	0.92
2040	1.36	0.93
2041	1.36	0.95
2042	1.37	0.96
2043	1.37	0.96
2044	1.37	0.97
2045	1.37	0.98
2046	1.38	0.99
2047	1.38	1
2048	1.39	1.01
2049	1.39	1.02
2050	1.39	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Finland	South Korea
1960	30.4%	41.3%
1961	29.8%	41.8%
1962	29.1%	42.3%
1963	28.4%	42.7%
1964	27.7%	43.1%
1965	27.1%	43.3%
1966	26.6%	43.5%
1967	26.2%	43.3%
1968	25.7%	43.1%
1969	25.2%	42.7%
1970	24.6%	42.1%
1971	24%	41.5%
1972	23.4%	41%
1973	22.9%	40.3%
1974	22.4%	39.5%
1975	22%	38.5%
1976	21.7%	37.5%
1977	21.3%	36.5%
1978	21%	35.6%
1979	20.6%	34.8%
1980	20.3%	34%
1981	20%	33.3%
1982	19.8%	32.7%
1983	19.6%	32%
1984	19.5%	31.2%
1985	19.4%	30.2%
1986	19.3%	29.2%
1987	19.3%	28.2%
1988	19.3%	27.3%
1989	19.4%	26.5%
1990	19.3%	25.8%
1991	19.2%	25.2%
1992	19.2%	24.7%
1993	19.1%	24.2%
1994	19.1%	23.7%
1995	19%	23.1%
1996	18.9%	22.5%
1997	18.8%	22%
1998	18.6%	21.6%
1999	18.3%	21.2%
2000	18.2%	21%
2001	18%	20.8%
2002	17.9%	20.5%
2003	17.7%	20.1%
2004	17.5%	19.7%
2005	17.4%	19.2%
2006	17.2%	18.7%
2007	17%	18.1%
2008	16.8%	17.5%
2009	16.7%	16.9%
2010	16.6%	16.4%
2011	16.5%	15.8%
2012	16.4%	15.2%
2013	16.4%	14.7%
2014	16.4%	14.2%
2015	16.4%	13.8%
2016	16.3%	13.4%
2017	16.2%	13%
2018	16.1%	12.7%
2019	15.9%	12.4%
2020	15.7%	12.1%
2021	15.5%	11.8%
2022	15.2%	11.4%
2023	14.9%	11%
2024	14.6%	10.6%
2025	14.3%	10.2%
2026	14%	9.82%
2027	13.7%	9.42%
2028	13.4%	9.06%
2029	13.2%	8.75%
2030	12.9%	8.43%
2031	12.7%	8.15%
2032	12.6%	7.94%
2033	12.5%	7.79%
2034	12.4%	7.7%
2035	12.4%	7.66%
2036	12.4%	7.65%
2037	12.4%	7.66%
2038	12.4%	7.68%
2039	12.5%	7.71%
2040	12.5%	7.73%
2041	12.6%	7.75%
2042	12.7%	7.76%
2043	12.7%	7.77%
2044	12.8%	7.78%
2045	12.9%	7.79%
2046	13%	7.8%
2047	13%	7.81%
2048	13.1%	7.82%
2049	13.1%	7.82%
2050	13.1%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 14.6% of the population in Finland and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 19.3% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Finland and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Finland vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.12% in Finland and +0.06% in South Korea. 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
	Finland	South Korea
1960	42,082	728,010
1961	41,487	730,173
1962	38,627	712,590
1963	40,258	685,824
1964	38,208	655,501
1965	33,771	641,090
1966	34,356	623,534
1967	33,622	692,169
1968	28,684	684,487
1969	21,732	694,227
1970	20,268	747,987
1971	15,220	789,185
1972	14,847	740,469
1973	13,532	699,115
1974	17,824	673,030
1975	21,673	603,300
1976	21,738	530,558
1977	21,799	578,947
1978	20,436	499,084
1979	19,535	623,068
1980	18,640	583,294
1981	18,720	631,189
1982	22,686	605,626
1983	21,851	514,844
1984	20,015	436,384
1985	14,707	416,219
1986	13,279	395,651
1987	11,837	378,758
1988	14,344	399,297
1989	14,396	403,266
1990	15,458	411,546
1991	16,044	467,594
1992	16,639	494,352
1993	13,679	477,302
1994	17,300	473,200
1995	13,791	468,967
1996	11,274	446,142
1997	9,766	422,773
1998	7,730	393,436
1999	7,748	368,272
2000	7,765	390,167
2001	7,263	312,643
2002	6,241	247,752
2003	7,819	244,251
2004	9,933	225,988
2005	9,968	187,920
2006	11,059	203,441
2007	9,519	248,286
2008	10,627	215,841
2009	10,678	197,231
2010	10,191	213,083
2011	9,160	214,728
2012	7,579	215,859
2013	6,527	166,415
2014	4,915	167,464
2015	2,740	163,248
2016	-1,099	122,923
2017	-3,856	71,907
2018	-7,170	30,951
2019	-8,282	10,353
2020	-8,847	-31,101
2021	-7,757	-56,947
2022	-18,335	-124,014
2023	-17,869	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Finland vs South Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 8 deaths per 100,000 live births in Finland, compared to 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Finland	South Korea
1985	7	38
1986	8	35
1987	7	34
1988	8	31
1989	8	29
1990	8	28
1991	8	28
1992	8	26
1993	7	24
1994	7	23
1995	7	22
1996	7	20
1997	7	19
1998	7	18
1999	7	17
2000	7	15
2001	7	14
2002	7	13
2003	7	13
2004	7	12
2005	8	11
2006	7	10
2007	7	10
2008	7	9
2009	8	9
2010	8	8
2011	7	8
2012	8	8
2013	8	7
2014	7	7
2015	7	6
2016	7	6
2017	8	6
2018	8	5
2019	8	5
2020	9	12
2021	8	5
2022	8	7
2023	8	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.23% in Finland and 0.28% in South Korea. 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
	Finland	South Korea
1960	2.68%	11.2%
1961	2.53%	10.6%
1962	2.38%	10.1%
1963	2.25%	9.67%
1964	2.13%	9.18%
1965	2.02%	8.68%
1966	1.92%	8.16%
1967	1.84%	7.62%
1968	1.76%	7.1%
1969	1.68%	6.59%
1970	1.61%	6.12%
1971	1.54%	5.71%
1972	1.46%	5.36%
1973	1.39%	5.07%
1974	1.31%	4.82%
1975	1.23%	4.61%
1976	1.14%	4.42%
1977	1.06%	4.23%
1978	0.99%	4.04%
1979	0.92%	3.84%
1980	0.87%	3.63%
1981	0.82%	3.4%
1982	0.79%	3.17%
1983	0.76%	2.93%
1984	0.75%	2.7%
1985	0.73%	2.46%
1986	0.73%	2.25%
1987	0.72%	2.05%
1988	0.71%	1.87%
1989	0.69%	1.71%
1990	0.67%	1.57%
1991	0.64%	1.44%
1992	0.61%	1.33%
1993	0.58%	1.23%
1994	0.55%	1.14%
1995	0.52%	1.05%
1996	0.49%	0.98%
1997	0.47%	0.91%
1998	0.46%	0.85%
1999	0.44%	0.8%
2000	0.43%	0.75%
2001	0.42%	0.71%
2002	0.41%	0.68%
2003	0.4%	0.64%
2004	0.39%	0.6%
2005	0.37%	0.56%
2006	0.36%	0.52%
2007	0.35%	0.48%
2008	0.33%	0.45%
2009	0.32%	0.43%
2010	0.3%	0.41%
2011	0.29%	0.4%
2012	0.28%	0.38%
2013	0.26%	0.37%
2014	0.26%	0.36%
2015	0.25%	0.35%
2016	0.24%	0.34%
2017	0.24%	0.33%
2018	0.24%	0.32%
2019	0.23%	0.31%
2020	0.23%	0.3%
2021	0.23%	0.29%
2022	0.23%	0.28%
2023	0.23%	0.28%