Fertility & birth rates in France and South Korea

Fertility rate in France vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in France was 1.66 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 France 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
	France	South Korea
1960	2.85	5.99
1961	2.87	5.8
1962	2.89	5.56
1963	2.89	5.33
1964	2.87	5.07
1965	2.84	4.89
1966	2.8	4.78
1967	2.75	4.62
1968	2.69	4.51
1969	2.62	4.45
1970	2.55	4.53
1971	2.47	4.54
1972	2.38	4.12
1973	2.28	4.07
1974	2.18	3.77
1975	2.09	3.43
1976	2.01	3
1977	1.94	2.99
1978	1.89	2.64
1979	1.87	2.9
1980	1.85	2.82
1981	1.85	2.57
1982	1.86	2.39
1983	1.86	2.06
1984	1.86	1.74
1985	1.86	1.66
1986	1.85	1.58
1987	1.83	1.53
1988	1.81	1.55
1989	1.79	1.56
1990	1.77	1.57
1991	1.75	1.71
1992	1.74	1.76
1993	1.73	1.65
1994	1.73	1.66
1995	1.74	1.63
1996	1.75	1.57
1997	1.77	1.54
1998	1.78	1.46
1999	1.81	1.43
2000	1.89	1.48
2001	1.9	1.31
2002	1.88	1.18
2003	1.89	1.19
2004	1.92	1.16
2005	1.94	1.09
2006	2	1.13
2007	1.98	1.26
2008	2.01	1.19
2009	2	1.15
2010	2.03	1.23
2011	2.01	1.24
2012	2.01	1.3
2013	1.99	1.19
2014	2	1.21
2015	1.96	1.24
2016	1.92	1.17
2017	1.89	1.05
2018	1.87	0.98
2019	1.86	0.92
2020	1.83	0.84
2021	1.84	0.81
2022	1.79	0.78
2023	1.66	0.72
2024	1.66	0.73
2025	1.66	0.75
2026	1.66	0.76
2027	1.66	0.78
2028	1.66	0.79
2029	1.66	0.8
2030	1.66	0.82
2031	1.66	0.83
2032	1.66	0.84
2033	1.66	0.85
2034	1.66	0.86
2035	1.66	0.88
2036	1.66	0.89
2037	1.67	0.9
2038	1.66	0.91
2039	1.66	0.92
2040	1.66	0.93
2041	1.67	0.95
2042	1.67	0.96
2043	1.67	0.96
2044	1.67	0.97
2045	1.67	0.98
2046	1.67	0.99
2047	1.67	1
2048	1.67	1.01
2049	1.67	1.02
2050	1.67	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	France	South Korea
1960	26.5%	41.3%
1961	26.5%	41.8%
1962	26.2%	42.3%
1963	26%	42.7%
1964	25.8%	43.1%
1965	25.6%	43.3%
1966	25.4%	43.5%
1967	25.3%	43.3%
1968	25.1%	43.1%
1969	25%	42.7%
1970	24.8%	42.1%
1971	24.7%	41.5%
1972	24.6%	41%
1973	24.4%	40.3%
1974	24.2%	39.5%
1975	23.9%	38.5%
1976	23.6%	37.5%
1977	23.3%	36.5%
1978	23%	35.6%
1979	22.7%	34.8%
1980	22.4%	34%
1981	22.1%	33.3%
1982	21.9%	32.7%
1983	21.7%	32%
1984	21.5%	31.2%
1985	21.3%	30.2%
1986	21%	29.2%
1987	20.7%	28.2%
1988	20.5%	27.3%
1989	20.3%	26.5%
1990	20.1%	25.8%
1991	20.1%	25.2%
1992	20%	24.7%
1993	19.9%	24.2%
1994	19.7%	23.7%
1995	19.5%	23.1%
1996	19.3%	22.5%
1997	19.1%	22%
1998	19%	21.6%
1999	19%	21.2%
2000	18.9%	21%
2001	18.9%	20.8%
2002	18.8%	20.5%
2003	18.7%	20.1%
2004	18.6%	19.7%
2005	18.5%	19.2%
2006	18.5%	18.7%
2007	18.4%	18.1%
2008	18.5%	17.5%
2009	18.5%	16.9%
2010	18.5%	16.4%
2011	18.5%	15.8%
2012	18.5%	15.2%
2013	18.4%	14.7%
2014	18.3%	14.2%
2015	18.2%	13.8%
2016	18.1%	13.4%
2017	17.9%	13%
2018	17.8%	12.7%
2019	17.6%	12.4%
2020	17.4%	12.1%
2021	17.2%	11.8%
2022	17%	11.4%
2023	16.8%	11%
2024	16.5%	10.6%
2025	16.2%	10.2%
2026	16%	9.82%
2027	15.7%	9.42%
2028	15.5%	9.06%
2029	15.3%	8.75%
2030	15.1%	8.43%
2031	15%	8.15%
2032	14.8%	7.94%
2033	14.8%	7.79%
2034	14.7%	7.7%
2035	14.7%	7.66%
2036	14.7%	7.65%
2037	14.7%	7.66%
2038	14.7%	7.68%
2039	14.8%	7.71%
2040	14.9%	7.73%
2041	15%	7.75%
2042	15.1%	7.76%
2043	15.2%	7.77%
2044	15.3%	7.78%
2045	15.4%	7.79%
2046	15.5%	7.8%
2047	15.5%	7.81%
2048	15.5%	7.82%
2049	15.6%	7.82%
2050	15.6%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 16.5% of the population in France and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 20.1% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of France and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in France vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.2% in France 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
	France	South Korea
1960	346,115	728,010
1961	354,504	730,173
1962	358,082	712,590
1963	361,694	685,824
1964	360,631	655,501
1965	354,132	641,090
1966	352,181	623,534
1967	339,843	692,169
1968	337,346	684,487
1969	329,831	694,227
1970	322,444	747,987
1971	309,747	789,185
1972	296,589	740,469
1973	282,979	699,115
1974	268,733	673,030
1975	248,413	603,300
1976	227,776	530,558
1977	217,946	578,947
1978	213,462	499,084
1979	208,923	623,068
1980	210,042	583,294
1981	222,414	631,189
1982	234,389	605,626
1983	235,655	514,844
1984	248,086	436,384
1985	249,328	416,219
1986	250,606	395,651
1987	251,971	378,758
1988	247,672	399,297
1989	243,361	403,266
1990	238,870	411,546
1991	234,216	467,594
1992	229,502	494,352
1993	224,592	477,302
1994	201,704	473,200
1995	220,303	468,967
1996	221,092	446,142
1997	215,885	422,773
1998	222,705	393,436
1999	229,907	368,272
2000	268,042	390,167
2001	263,867	312,643
2002	253,430	247,752
2003	230,325	244,251
2004	282,185	225,988
2005	271,677	187,920
2006	305,387	203,441
2007	288,076	248,286
2008	283,250	215,841
2009	278,238	197,231
2010	286,116	213,083
2011	280,966	214,728
2012	256,065	215,859
2013	244,192	166,415
2014	265,248	167,464
2015	206,300	163,248
2016	193,500	122,923
2017	160,604	71,907
2018	147,749	30,951
2019	141,503	10,353
2020	67,602	-31,101
2021	74,627	-56,947
2022	54,452	-124,014
2023	47,802	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: France vs South Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 7 deaths per 100,000 live births in France, compared to 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	France	South Korea
1985	20	38
1986	20	35
1987	19	34
1988	19	31
1989	19	29
1990	18	28
1991	18	28
1992	17	26
1993	16	24
1994	15	23
1995	15	22
1996	13	20
1997	11	19
1998	10	18
1999	10	17
2000	9	15
2001	9	14
2002	9	13
2003	9	13
2004	9	12
2005	9	11
2006	9	10
2007	9	10
2008	10	9
2009	10	9
2010	9	8
2011	9	8
2012	9	8
2013	9	7
2014	9	7
2015	9	6
2016	9	6
2017	8	6
2018	9	5
2019	8	5
2020	9	12
2021	9	5
2022	9	7
2023	7	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.43% in France 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
	France	South Korea
1960	2.85%	11.2%
1961	2.7%	10.6%
1962	2.57%	10.1%
1963	2.45%	9.67%
1964	2.34%	9.18%
1965	2.24%	8.68%
1966	2.14%	8.16%
1967	2.06%	7.62%
1968	1.99%	7.1%
1969	1.91%	6.59%
1970	1.82%	6.12%
1971	1.74%	5.71%
1972	1.66%	5.36%
1973	1.6%	5.07%
1974	1.54%	4.82%
1975	1.49%	4.61%
1976	1.44%	4.42%
1977	1.39%	4.23%
1978	1.34%	4.04%
1979	1.28%	3.84%
1980	1.24%	3.63%
1981	1.19%	3.4%
1982	1.15%	3.17%
1983	1.11%	2.93%
1984	1.07%	2.7%
1985	1.04%	2.46%
1986	1.01%	2.25%
1987	0.98%	2.05%
1988	0.96%	1.87%
1989	0.93%	1.71%
1990	0.9%	1.57%
1991	0.86%	1.44%
1992	0.81%	1.33%
1993	0.75%	1.23%
1994	0.7%	1.14%
1995	0.65%	1.05%
1996	0.61%	0.98%
1997	0.58%	0.91%
1998	0.57%	0.85%
1999	0.55%	0.8%
2000	0.54%	0.75%
2001	0.52%	0.71%
2002	0.51%	0.68%
2003	0.49%	0.64%
2004	0.48%	0.6%
2005	0.46%	0.56%
2006	0.45%	0.52%
2007	0.44%	0.48%
2008	0.44%	0.45%
2009	0.43%	0.43%
2010	0.42%	0.41%
2011	0.42%	0.4%
2012	0.41%	0.38%
2013	0.41%	0.37%
2014	0.41%	0.36%
2015	0.42%	0.35%
2016	0.42%	0.34%
2017	0.42%	0.33%
2018	0.42%	0.32%
2019	0.42%	0.31%
2020	0.42%	0.3%
2021	0.43%	0.29%
2022	0.43%	0.28%
2023	0.43%	0.28%