Fertility & birth rates in Gambia and Sao Tome and Principe

Fertility rate in Gambia vs Sao Tome and Principe chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in the Gambia was 4.01 children per woman in 2023, compared to 3.64 in Sao Tome and Principe in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check the Gambia vs Sao Tome and Principe population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Gambia	Sao Tome
1960	6.25	6.24
1961	6.23	6.26
1962	6.21	6.28
1963	6.2	6.31
1964	6.2	6.33
1965	6.19	6.35
1966	6.18	6.37
1967	6.21	6.39
1968	6.22	6.42
1969	6.25	6.44
1970	6.26	6.47
1971	6.33	6.49
1972	6.37	6.51
1973	6.41	6.53
1974	6.42	6.53
1975	6.43	6.53
1976	6.43	6.52
1977	6.43	6.5
1978	6.42	6.47
1979	6.41	6.43
1980	6.41	6.39
1981	6.4	6.33
1982	6.4	6.28
1983	6.39	6.22
1984	6.39	6.16
1985	6.36	6.1
1986	6.34	6.05
1987	6.3	5.99
1988	6.26	5.94
1989	6.25	5.88
1990	6.25	5.83
1991	6.19	5.77
1992	6.11	5.7
1993	6.03	5.64
1994	6.04	5.56
1995	5.99	5.55
1996	5.93	5.47
1997	5.85	5.4
1998	5.82	5.3
1999	5.77	5.23
2000	5.72	5.16
2001	5.67	5.1
2002	5.66	5.06
2003	5.66	5.01
2004	5.68	4.96
2005	5.71	4.94
2006	5.74	4.93
2007	5.69	4.96
2008	5.63	4.91
2009	5.57	4.84
2010	5.56	4.77
2011	5.54	4.72
2012	5.52	4.66
2013	5.39	4.58
2014	5.2	4.49
2015	5	4.35
2016	4.81	4.2
2017	4.61	4.07
2018	4.42	3.98
2019	4.33	3.9
2020	4.25	3.83
2021	4.17	3.76
2022	4.08	3.7
2023	4.01	3.64
2024	3.91	3.6
2025	3.8	3.53
2026	3.7	3.47
2027	3.6	3.42
2028	3.51	3.36
2029	3.41	3.32
2030	3.33	3.26
2031	3.24	3.21
2032	3.17	3.17
2033	3.1	3.13
2034	3.03	3.09
2035	2.97	3.04
2036	2.91	3.01
2037	2.86	2.97
2038	2.81	2.94
2039	2.76	2.9
2040	2.71	2.87
2041	2.67	2.83
2042	2.63	2.8
2043	2.59	2.78
2044	2.56	2.75
2045	2.52	2.73
2046	2.49	2.7
2047	2.46	2.67
2048	2.43	2.64
2049	2.4	2.62
2050	2.38	2.59

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Gambia	Sao Tome
1960	41%	32.9%
1961	40.8%	34.3%
1962	40.7%	36.6%
1963	40.8%	38.5%
1964	41%	40.2%
1965	41.3%	41.6%
1966	41.5%	42.9%
1967	41.6%	44%
1968	41.8%	44.9%
1969	41.9%	45.8%
1970	42%	46.2%
1971	42.1%	46.1%
1972	42.2%	45.9%
1973	42.3%	45.7%
1974	42.4%	45.6%
1975	42.6%	45.5%
1976	42.8%	45.4%
1977	43%	45.3%
1978	43.3%	45.2%
1979	43.5%	45.1%
1980	43.7%	44.9%
1981	44%	44.7%
1982	44.3%	44.5%
1983	44.6%	44.5%
1984	44.9%	44.4%
1985	45%	44.5%
1986	45.2%	44.7%
1987	45.4%	44.9%
1988	45.5%	45%
1989	45.6%	45%
1990	45.7%	45.1%
1991	45.8%	45.1%
1992	45.9%	45.2%
1993	46%	45.2%
1994	46.3%	45.1%
1995	46.5%	44.9%
1996	46.7%	44.7%
1997	46.9%	44.3%
1998	46.9%	43.9%
1999	46.9%	43.4%
2000	46.8%	42.8%
2001	46.7%	42.5%
2002	46.6%	42.3%
2003	46.4%	42.2%
2004	46.1%	42.1%
2005	45.9%	42%
2006	45.6%	42%
2007	45.3%	42%
2008	45.1%	42.1%
2009	44.8%	42.1%
2010	44.5%	42.1%
2011	44.3%	42%
2012	44.1%	42%
2013	43.9%	42%
2014	43.7%	42%
2015	43.6%	41.9%
2016	43.3%	41.7%
2017	43.1%	41.4%
2018	42.8%	40.9%
2019	42.4%	40.5%
2020	42%	39.9%
2021	41.6%	39.4%
2022	41.2%	38.8%
2023	40.7%	38.3%
2024	40.2%	37.8%
2025	39.7%	37.5%
2026	39.2%	37.2%
2027	38.5%	36.8%
2028	37.9%	36.4%
2029	37.3%	36%
2030	36.7%	35.6%
2031	36.2%	35.4%
2032	35.7%	35.2%
2033	35.2%	35%
2034	34.8%	34.8%
2035	34.3%	34.7%
2036	33.9%	34.5%
2037	33.4%	34.2%
2038	33%	34%
2039	32.5%	33.8%
2040	32.1%	33.5%
2041	31.7%	33.2%
2042	31.3%	32.9%
2043	30.9%	32.6%
2044	30.5%	32.3%
2045	30.2%	32%
2046	29.8%	31.6%
2047	29.5%	31.3%
2048	29.1%	31%
2049	28.8%	30.6%
2050	28.4%	30.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 40.2% of the population in the Gambia and 37.8% in Sao Tome and Principe in 2024, compared to 45.7% and 45.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of the Gambia and Sao Tome and Principe compared.

Natural population change in Gambia vs Sao Tome and Principe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.59% in the Gambia and +2.4% in Sao Tome and Principe. 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
	Gambia	Sao Tome
1960	8,420	1,547
1961	8,778	1,657
1962	9,150	1,625
1963	9,493	1,609
1964	9,825	1,600
1965	10,162	1,611
1966	10,422	1,642
1967	10,823	1,693
1968	11,215	1,767
1969	11,670	1,862
1970	12,128	1,980
1971	12,842	2,127
1972	13,432	2,232
1973	14,046	2,329
1974	14,628	2,422
1975	15,256	2,515
1976	16,032	2,608
1977	16,773	2,705
1978	17,424	2,800
1979	18,543	2,893
1980	19,566	2,965
1981	20,156	3,015
1982	21,894	3,047
1983	23,175	3,100
1984	24,586	3,163
1985	25,795	3,242
1986	27,195	3,180
1987	28,452	3,440
1988	29,938	3,544
1989	31,504	3,576
1990	33,163	3,719
1991	34,584	3,801
1992	35,951	3,822
1993	37,302	3,841
1994	38,880	3,860
1995	39,681	3,948
1996	40,253	3,993
1997	40,742	4,041
1998	41,842	4,120
1999	42,533	4,221
2000	43,249	4,334
2001	44,154	4,471
2002	45,156	4,591
2003	46,473	4,702
2004	48,276	4,810
2005	50,010	4,897
2006	52,335	5,057
2007	53,653	5,226
2008	55,032	5,297
2009	56,575	5,349
2010	58,554	5,391
2011	60,571	5,445
2012	62,745	5,501
2013	63,510	5,449
2014	63,185	5,381
2015	62,832	5,269
2016	62,358	5,125
2017	61,665	5,007
2018	60,854	4,957
2019	61,701	4,932
2020	62,209	4,874
2021	62,239	4,954
2022	63,634	5,102
2023	65,118	5,221

Maternal mortality chart: Gambia vs Sao Tome and Principe

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 354 deaths per 100,000 live births in the Gambia, compared to 75 deaths in Sao Tome and Principe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Gambia	Sao Tome
1985	1,454	159
1986	1,401	175
1987	1,360	161
1988	1,302	157
1989	1,258	167
1990	1,207	164
1991	1,167	166
1992	1,115	164
1993	1,072	166
1994	1,039	168
1995	999	172
1996	956	171
1997	928	173
1998	867	175
1999	830	179
2000	810	180
2001	794	178
2002	772	179
2003	749	178
2004	719	177
2005	707	181
2006	682	177
2007	675	174
2008	653	174
2009	634	172
2010	632	170
2011	634	164
2012	628	158
2013	606	150
2014	561	138
2015	527	128
2016	490	119
2017	469	110
2018	450	100
2019	422	95
2020	400	92
2021	420	98
2022	365	82
2023	354	75

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.41% in the Gambia and 1.39% in Sao Tome and Principe. 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
	Gambia	Sao Tome
1960	36.2%	-
1961	35.5%	-
1962	34.8%	-
1963	34.1%	-
1964	33.5%	-
1965	32.8%	9.56%
1966	32.1%	9.29%
1967	31.5%	9.04%
1968	30.9%	8.85%
1969	30.2%	8.71%
1970	29.5%	8.64%
1971	28.9%	8.63%
1972	28.2%	8.67%
1973	27.5%	8.73%
1974	26.9%	8.79%
1975	26.2%	8.85%
1976	25.5%	8.89%
1977	24.9%	8.93%
1978	24.2%	8.96%
1979	23.6%	9.02%
1980	23%	9.1%
1981	22.3%	9.21%
1982	21.7%	9.37%
1983	21%	9.56%
1984	20.4%	9.77%
1985	19.7%	9.99%
1986	19.1%	11.4%
1987	18.4%	10.4%
1988	17.8%	10.6%
1989	17.2%	10.7%
1990	16.6%	10.8%
1991	16%	10.9%
1992	15.5%	10.9%
1993	14.9%	10.8%
1994	14.4%	10.7%
1995	13.9%	10.4%
1996	13.3%	10.1%
1997	12.8%	9.73%
1998	12.3%	9.26%
1999	11.8%	8.76%
2000	11.3%	8.21%
2001	10.9%	7.66%
2002	10.4%	7.1%
2003	9.95%	6.57%
2004	9.52%	6.05%
2005	9.11%	5.56%
2006	8.71%	5.11%
2007	8.33%	4.68%
2008	7.98%	4.3%
2009	7.64%	3.95%
2010	7.31%	3.63%
2011	7.01%	3.33%
2012	6.73%	3.04%
2013	6.45%	2.77%
2014	6.18%	2.54%
2015	5.93%	2.31%
2016	5.7%	2.11%
2017	5.47%	1.95%
2018	5.27%	1.81%
2019	5.07%	1.7%
2020	4.89%	1.6%
2021	4.72%	1.53%
2022	4.56%	1.46%
2023	4.41%	1.39%