Fertility & birth rates in India and South Africa

Fertility rate in India vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in India was 1.98 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check India vs South Africa population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	India	South Africa
1960	5.92	6.11
1961	5.94	6.08
1962	5.95	6.05
1963	5.97	6.01
1964	5.98	5.96
1965	5.94	5.89
1966	5.88	5.91
1967	5.83	5.85
1968	5.76	5.78
1969	5.68	5.72
1970	5.62	5.63
1971	5.57	5.57
1972	5.48	5.49
1973	5.4	5.41
1974	5.33	5.3
1975	5.2	5.19
1976	5.13	5.07
1977	5.01	4.94
1978	4.89	4.85
1979	4.81	4.82
1980	4.78	4.78
1981	4.7	4.71
1982	4.62	4.7
1983	4.57	4.63
1984	4.52	4.57
1985	4.43	4.5
1986	4.4	4.41
1987	4.31	4.35
1988	4.22	4.18
1989	4.13	3.98
1990	4.05	3.72
1991	3.96	3.62
1992	3.88	3.48
1993	3.8	3.37
1994	3.72	3.26
1995	3.65	3.17
1996	3.58	2.99
1997	3.51	2.73
1998	3.45	2.63
1999	3.38	2.56
2000	3.35	2.41
2001	3.3	2.37
2002	3.22	2.32
2003	3.12	2.36
2004	3.05	2.44
2005	2.96	2.51
2006	2.87	2.55
2007	2.78	2.55
2008	2.71	2.68
2009	2.67	2.5
2010	2.6	2.44
2011	2.53	2.44
2012	2.47	2.45
2013	2.4	2.43
2014	2.29	2.42
2015	2.29	2.36
2016	2.28	2.26
2017	2.19	2.28
2018	2.18	2.27
2019	2.12	2.26
2020	2.05	2.26
2021	2.01	2.25
2022	1.99	2.23
2023	1.98	2.22
2024	1.96	2.21
2025	1.94	2.19
2026	1.93	2.17
2027	1.91	2.15
2028	1.9	2.13
2029	1.89	2.12
2030	1.88	2.1
2031	1.87	2.09
2032	1.86	2.07
2033	1.85	2.06
2034	1.84	2.05
2035	1.84	2.04
2036	1.83	2.03
2037	1.82	2.02
2038	1.81	2
2039	1.81	1.99
2040	1.8	1.98
2041	1.8	1.98
2042	1.79	1.97
2043	1.79	1.96
2044	1.78	1.95
2045	1.78	1.94
2046	1.78	1.93
2047	1.77	1.92
2048	1.77	1.91
2049	1.77	1.9
2050	1.76	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	India	South Africa
1960	40.6%	42.1%
1961	40.9%	42.1%
1962	41.2%	42.1%
1963	41.5%	42.1%
1964	41.6%	42.1%
1965	41.7%	42.1%
1966	41.7%	42.1%
1967	41.6%	42.2%
1968	41.5%	42.2%
1969	41.5%	42.2%
1970	41.4%	42.3%
1971	41.2%	42.2%
1972	41.1%	42.2%
1973	41%	42.1%
1974	40.8%	42%
1975	40.7%	41.9%
1976	40.5%	41.8%
1977	40.3%	41.7%
1978	40.1%	41.5%
1979	40%	41.3%
1980	39.8%	40.9%
1981	39.7%	40.5%
1982	39.6%	40.1%
1983	39.5%	39.8%
1984	39.4%	39.5%
1985	39.3%	39.2%
1986	39.2%	38.9%
1987	39.1%	38.7%
1988	38.9%	38.4%
1989	38.8%	38.1%
1990	38.6%	37.7%
1991	38.4%	37.5%
1992	38.1%	37.6%
1993	37.9%	37.3%
1994	37.6%	37.2%
1995	37.3%	37.5%
1996	37%	37.5%
1997	36.7%	37.2%
1998	36.3%	36.5%
1999	35.9%	35.7%
2000	35.6%	34.9%
2001	35.2%	34%
2002	34.8%	33.2%
2003	34.4%	32.3%
2004	34%	31.6%
2005	33.6%	31.1%
2006	33.1%	30.6%
2007	32.7%	30.2%
2008	32.2%	29.9%
2009	31.8%	29.7%
2010	31.3%	29.4%
2011	30.9%	29.1%
2012	30.4%	28.9%
2013	29.9%	28.7%
2014	29.4%	28.5%
2015	28.9%	28.3%
2016	28.4%	28.3%
2017	27.8%	28.3%
2018	27.3%	27.9%
2019	26.8%	27.4%
2020	26.3%	27%
2021	25.9%	26.6%
2022	25.5%	26.3%
2023	25.1%	26.1%
2024	24.6%	25.9%
2025	24.2%	25.7%
2026	23.8%	25.6%
2027	23.4%	25.4%
2028	23%	25.3%
2029	22.7%	25.2%
2030	22.4%	25.2%
2031	22.1%	25.1%
2032	21.8%	25%
2033	21.5%	24.8%
2034	21.3%	24.5%
2035	21%	24.3%
2036	20.8%	23.9%
2037	20.6%	23.6%
2038	20.4%	23.4%
2039	20.2%	23.1%
2040	19.9%	22.9%
2041	19.7%	22.7%
2042	19.5%	22.5%
2043	19.3%	22.4%
2044	19.1%	22.2%
2045	18.8%	22.1%
2046	18.6%	21.9%
2047	18.4%	21.8%
2048	18.2%	21.7%
2049	18%	21.6%
2050	17.8%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 24.6% of the population in India and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 38.6% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of India and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in India vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.06% in India and +1.05% in South Africa. 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
	India	South Africa
1960	10,237,489	421,263
1961	10,468,816	437,851
1962	10,743,409	455,634
1963	11,016,705	473,821
1964	11,285,378	490,606
1965	10,925,714	506,632
1966	11,089,894	534,862
1967	11,279,897	553,741
1968	12,006,807	571,841
1969	12,167,671	590,794
1970	12,417,866	605,102
1971	12,787,104	624,761
1972	13,041,792	638,754
1973	13,412,707	651,596
1974	13,795,836	658,438
1975	13,958,642	667,862
1976	14,435,504	675,011
1977	14,575,662	680,929
1978	14,898,145	694,341
1979	15,392,957	716,541
1980	16,018,786	738,415
1981	16,422,159	767,833
1982	16,790,507	807,550
1983	17,219,127	837,013
1984	17,698,810	869,011
1985	17,968,697	893,889
1986	18,455,495	903,644
1987	18,496,213	922,330
1988	18,702,916	909,221
1989	18,848,915	884,629
1990	18,893,588	835,421
1991	19,049,524	827,296
1992	19,132,757	794,415
1993	19,152,399	789,220
1994	19,310,798	698,609
1995	19,396,161	743,488
1996	19,442,699	710,868
1997	19,494,098	667,969
1998	19,569,575	627,027
1999	19,648,424	594,643
2000	19,984,160	526,963
2001	20,182,573	484,801
2002	20,024,621	430,926
2003	19,720,507	415,018
2004	19,469,758	442,540
2005	19,034,839	464,464
2006	18,641,737	487,584
2007	18,331,648	503,567
2008	18,234,926	595,332
2009	18,286,055	554,115
2010	17,991,935	566,834
2011	17,793,362	601,708
2012	17,552,365	643,723
2013	17,107,541	652,427
2014	16,165,943	674,754
2015	16,211,195	668,771
2016	16,202,593	641,365
2017	15,394,041	645,975
2018	15,451,168	648,319
2019	14,859,846	652,130
2020	13,366,946	595,873
2021	10,227,523	456,411
2022	13,912,130	603,636
2023	13,711,993	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: India vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 80 deaths per 100,000 live births in India, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	India	South Africa
1985	658	208
1986	624	200
1987	592	192
1988	562	184
1989	538	177
1990	516	170
1991	498	162
1992	482	152
1993	467	145
1994	451	133
1995	437	125
1996	422	150
1997	407	152
1998	393	152
1999	378	151
2000	362	175
2001	349	192
2002	330	225
2003	313	245
2004	296	259
2005	277	279
2006	258	283
2007	240	272
2008	223	272
2009	205	241
2010	188	226
2011	173	202
2012	160	194
2013	148	180
2014	137	162
2015	129	150
2016	121	141
2017	113	134
2018	107	128
2019	101	119
2020	101	118
2021	155	191
2022	90	129
2023	80	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 2.77% in India and 3.47% in South Africa. 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
	India	South Africa
1960	24.1%	-
1961	23.8%	-
1962	23.5%	-
1963	23.2%	-
1964	22.9%	-
1965	22.7%	-
1966	22.4%	-
1967	22.2%	-
1968	22%	-
1969	21.7%	-
1970	21.5%	-
1971	21.2%	-
1972	20.8%	-
1973	20.5%	-
1974	20.1%	13.2%
1975	19.6%	12.5%
1976	19.1%	11.8%
1977	18.6%	11.1%
1978	18%	10.5%
1979	17.5%	9.88%
1980	16.9%	9.35%
1981	16.4%	8.84%
1982	15.9%	8.39%
1983	15.5%	7.98%
1984	15%	7.6%
1985	14.6%	7.24%
1986	14.2%	6.89%
1987	13.8%	6.56%
1988	13.4%	6.26%
1989	13%	6.01%
1990	12.7%	5.82%
1991	12.3%	5.7%
1992	12%	5.66%
1993	11.6%	5.7%
1994	11.3%	5.82%
1995	11%	5.95%
1996	10.6%	6.11%
1997	10.3%	6.29%
1998	9.89%	6.56%
1999	9.53%	6.85%
2000	9.16%	7.11%
2001	8.8%	7.43%
2002	8.45%	7.69%
2003	8.11%	7.93%
2004	7.77%	8.1%
2005	7.44%	8.03%
2006	7.11%	7.75%
2007	6.79%	7.19%
2008	6.46%	6.42%
2009	6.14%	5.7%
2010	5.82%	5%
2011	5.5%	4.5%
2012	5.2%	4.25%
2013	4.91%	4.1%
2014	4.63%	3.96%
2015	4.36%	3.82%
2016	4.11%	3.68%
2017	3.87%	3.58%
2018	3.64%	3.49%
2019	3.43%	3.45%
2020	3.24%	3.41%
2021	3.06%	3.41%
2022	2.91%	3.44%
2023	2.77%	3.47%