Fertility & birth rates in Gambia and South Sudan

Fertility rate in Gambia vs South Sudan 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 3.86 in South Sudan in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check the Gambia vs South Sudan 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	South Sudan
1960	6.25	7.16
1961	6.23	7.18
1962	6.21	7.2
1963	6.2	7.2
1964	6.2	7.22
1965	6.19	7.22
1966	6.18	7.25
1967	6.21	7.26
1968	6.22	7.26
1969	6.25	7.28
1970	6.26	7.29
1971	6.33	7.3
1972	6.37	7.31
1973	6.41	7.31
1974	6.42	7.31
1975	6.43	7.33
1976	6.43	7.33
1977	6.43	7.33
1978	6.42	7.33
1979	6.41	7.32
1980	6.41	7.33
1981	6.4	7.33
1982	6.4	7.34
1983	6.39	7.34
1984	6.39	7.35
1985	6.36	7.36
1986	6.34	7.38
1987	6.3	7.39
1988	6.26	7.38
1989	6.25	7.37
1990	6.25	7.38
1991	6.19	7.38
1992	6.11	7.37
1993	6.03	7.36
1994	6.04	7.35
1995	5.99	7.34
1996	5.93	7.32
1997	5.85	7.2
1998	5.82	7.08
1999	5.77	6.94
2000	5.72	6.8
2001	5.67	6.65
2002	5.66	6.52
2003	5.66	6.35
2004	5.68	6.19
2005	5.71	6.02
2006	5.74	5.85
2007	5.69	5.7
2008	5.63	5.57
2009	5.57	5.45
2010	5.56	5.32
2011	5.54	5.19
2012	5.52	5.06
2013	5.39	4.94
2014	5.2	4.82
2015	5	4.7
2016	4.81	4.58
2017	4.61	4.48
2018	4.42	4.37
2019	4.33	4.26
2020	4.25	4.16
2021	4.17	4.05
2022	4.08	3.96
2023	4.01	3.86
2024	3.91	3.79
2025	3.8	3.71
2026	3.7	3.63
2027	3.6	3.56
2028	3.51	3.49
2029	3.41	3.43
2030	3.33	3.37
2031	3.24	3.31
2032	3.17	3.26
2033	3.1	3.2
2034	3.03	3.15
2035	2.97	3.1
2036	2.91	3.06
2037	2.86	3.01
2038	2.81	2.96
2039	2.76	2.92
2040	2.71	2.88
2041	2.67	2.84
2042	2.63	2.8
2043	2.59	2.76
2044	2.56	2.73
2045	2.52	2.69
2046	2.49	2.66
2047	2.46	2.63
2048	2.43	2.6
2049	2.4	2.58
2050	2.38	2.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Gambia	South Sudan
1960	41%	42.5%
1961	40.8%	42.6%
1962	40.7%	42.6%
1963	40.8%	42.8%
1964	41%	43%
1965	41.3%	43.3%
1966	41.5%	43.5%
1967	41.6%	43.8%
1968	41.8%	44%
1969	41.9%	44.3%
1970	42%	44.5%
1971	42.1%	44.7%
1972	42.2%	44.8%
1973	42.3%	45%
1974	42.4%	45.1%
1975	42.6%	45.2%
1976	42.8%	45.3%
1977	43%	45.4%
1978	43.3%	45.5%
1979	43.5%	45.7%
1980	43.7%	45.8%
1981	44%	46%
1982	44.3%	46.2%
1983	44.6%	46.3%
1984	44.9%	46.5%
1985	45%	46.6%
1986	45.2%	46.7%
1987	45.4%	46.9%
1988	45.5%	46.2%
1989	45.6%	45.4%
1990	45.7%	45.4%
1991	45.8%	45.5%
1992	45.9%	45.6%
1993	46%	45.7%
1994	46.3%	45.8%
1995	46.5%	45.8%
1996	46.7%	46%
1997	46.9%	46%
1998	46.9%	45.8%
1999	46.9%	45.6%
2000	46.8%	45.5%
2001	46.7%	45.5%
2002	46.6%	45.7%
2003	46.4%	45.9%
2004	46.1%	45.8%
2005	45.9%	45.3%
2006	45.6%	44.8%
2007	45.3%	44.3%
2008	45.1%	43.8%
2009	44.8%	43.4%
2010	44.5%	42.8%
2011	44.3%	42.2%
2012	44.1%	41.9%
2013	43.9%	41.9%
2014	43.7%	42.5%
2015	43.6%	43.1%
2016	43.3%	43.7%
2017	43.1%	45%
2018	42.8%	44.9%
2019	42.4%	43.6%
2020	42%	42.4%
2021	41.6%	41.6%
2022	41.2%	40.9%
2023	40.7%	39.9%
2024	40.2%	38.9%
2025	39.7%	38%
2026	39.2%	37.1%
2027	38.5%	36.2%
2028	37.9%	35.5%
2029	37.3%	35%
2030	36.7%	34.7%
2031	36.2%	34.5%
2032	35.7%	34.4%
2033	35.2%	34.3%
2034	34.8%	34.3%
2035	34.3%	34.2%
2036	33.9%	34.1%
2037	33.4%	34%
2038	33%	33.8%
2039	32.5%	33.7%
2040	32.1%	33.4%
2041	31.7%	33.2%
2042	31.3%	32.9%
2043	30.9%	32.5%
2044	30.5%	32.2%
2045	30.2%	31.8%
2046	29.8%	31.4%
2047	29.5%	31%
2048	29.1%	30.5%
2049	28.8%	30.1%
2050	28.4%	29.7%

Children aged 0-14 make up 40.2% of the population in the Gambia and 38.9% in South Sudan in 2024, compared to 45.7% and 45.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of the Gambia and South Sudan compared.

Natural population change in Gambia vs South Sudan by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.59% in the Gambia and +1.65% in South Sudan. 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	South Sudan
1960	8,420	42,945
1961	8,778	45,186
1962	9,150	47,406
1963	9,493	46,333
1964	9,825	64,786
1965	10,162	51,682
1966	10,422	38,523
1967	10,823	41,357
1968	11,215	44,213
1969	11,670	42,015
1970	12,128	44,776
1971	12,842	72,308
1972	13,432	74,803
1973	14,046	94,765
1974	14,628	97,181
1975	15,256	99,882
1976	16,032	102,346
1977	16,773	104,886
1978	17,424	107,352
1979	18,543	109,540
1980	19,566	112,307
1981	20,156	115,163
1982	21,894	118,641
1983	23,175	104,107
1984	24,586	90,970
1985	25,795	95,342
1986	27,195	99,502
1987	28,452	5,756
1988	29,938	-125,447
1989	31,504	83,735
1990	33,163	82,900
1991	34,584	87,873
1992	35,951	28,874
1993	37,302	32,779
1994	38,880	165,407
1995	39,681	110,417
1996	40,253	116,728
1997	40,742	121,454
1998	41,842	-12,157
1999	42,533	180,721
2000	43,249	196,055
2001	44,154	204,108
2002	45,156	212,014
2003	46,473	225,822
2004	48,276	231,877
2005	50,010	239,272
2006	52,335	246,706
2007	53,653	256,546
2008	55,032	268,268
2009	56,575	278,859
2010	58,554	287,409
2011	60,571	303,181
2012	62,745	312,974
2013	63,510	315,983
2014	63,185	227,611
2015	62,832	148,542
2016	62,358	110,553
2017	61,665	72,193
2018	60,854	168,497
2019	61,701	209,708
2020	62,209	212,332
2021	62,239	213,567
2022	63,634	211,166
2023	65,118	217,966

Maternal mortality chart: Gambia vs South Sudan

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 692 deaths in South Sudan.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Gambia	South Sudan
1985	1,454	3,845
1986	1,401	3,720
1987	1,360	8,045
1988	1,302	5,535
1989	1,258	5,103
1990	1,207	4,877
1991	1,167	4,764
1992	1,115	7,597
1993	1,072	7,537
1994	1,039	1,666
1995	999	4,430
1996	956	4,357
1997	928	4,172
1998	867	7,514
1999	830	2,048
2000	810	1,658
2001	794	1,580
2002	772	1,521
2003	749	1,199
2004	719	1,150
2005	707	1,074
2006	682	1,005
2007	675	933
2008	653	858
2009	634	823
2010	632	776
2011	634	770
2012	628	755
2013	606	771
2014	561	1,216
2015	527	1,436
2016	490	1,629
2017	469	1,662
2018	450	913
2019	422	745
2020	400	729
2021	420	749
2022	365	704
2023	354	692

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.41% in the Gambia and 9.87% in South Sudan. 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	South Sudan
1960	36.2%	35.5%
1961	35.5%	35.2%
1962	34.8%	34.9%
1963	34.1%	34.6%
1964	33.5%	34.3%
1965	32.8%	34%
1966	32.1%	33.6%
1967	31.5%	33.3%
1968	30.9%	32.9%
1969	30.2%	32.6%
1970	29.5%	32.3%
1971	28.9%	31.9%
1972	28.2%	31.6%
1973	27.5%	31.3%
1974	26.9%	30.9%
1975	26.2%	30.6%
1976	25.5%	30.2%
1977	24.9%	29.9%
1978	24.2%	29.5%
1979	23.6%	29.2%
1980	23%	28.9%
1981	22.3%	28.5%
1982	21.7%	28.2%
1983	21%	27.8%
1984	20.4%	27.5%
1985	19.7%	27.1%
1986	19.1%	26.7%
1987	18.4%	36%
1988	17.8%	76.7%
1989	17.2%	30.7%
1990	16.6%	30.3%
1991	16%	29.7%
1992	15.5%	33.8%
1993	14.9%	33.1%
1994	14.4%	23%
1995	13.9%	27%
1996	13.3%	26.1%
1997	12.8%	25.2%
1998	12.3%	42.6%
1999	11.8%	19.2%
2000	11.3%	18.3%
2001	10.9%	17.4%
2002	10.4%	16.5%
2003	9.95%	15.7%
2004	9.52%	14.8%
2005	9.11%	14.1%
2006	8.71%	13.4%
2007	8.33%	12.7%
2008	7.98%	12.1%
2009	7.64%	11.5%
2010	7.31%	10.9%
2011	7.01%	10.5%
2012	6.73%	10.1%
2013	6.45%	9.92%
2014	6.18%	18.2%
2015	5.93%	23.7%
2016	5.7%	26.4%
2017	5.47%	27.8%
2018	5.27%	13.2%
2019	5.07%	9.87%
2020	4.89%	9.87%
2021	4.72%	9.87%
2022	4.56%	9.87%
2023	4.41%	9.87%