Fertility & birth rates in Ireland and Sri Lanka

Fertility rate in Ireland vs Sri Lanka chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Ireland was 1.5 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.97 in Sri Lanka in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Ireland vs Sri Lanka population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Ireland	Sri Lanka
1960	3.78	5.35
1961	3.78	5.24
1962	3.92	5.18
1963	4.01	5.12
1964	4.07	5.06
1965	4.04	4.93
1966	3.94	4.83
1967	3.84	4.79
1968	3.77	4.66
1969	3.83	4.5
1970	3.85	4.39
1971	3.93	4.27
1972	3.84	4.16
1973	3.71	4
1974	3.59	3.86
1975	3.37	3.82
1976	3.29	3.78
1977	3.24	3.74
1978	3.21	3.81
1979	3.21	3.82
1980	3.21	3.73
1981	3.05	3.65
1982	2.94	3.32
1983	2.74	3.11
1984	2.58	3.01
1985	2.48	2.9
1986	2.44	2.74
1987	2.32	2.64
1988	2.17	2.57
1989	2.08	2.58
1990	2.11	2.54
1991	2.08	2.51
1992	1.99	2.49
1993	1.9	2.44
1994	1.85	2.4
1995	1.84	2.35
1996	1.88	2.29
1997	1.93	2.22
1998	1.94	2.14
1999	1.9	2.14
2000	1.89	2.21
2001	1.94	2.28
2002	1.97	2.31
2003	1.96	2.3
2004	1.93	2.27
2005	1.86	2.26
2006	1.91	2.29
2007	2.01	2.3
2008	2.06	2.23
2009	2.06	2.18
2010	2.05	2.13
2011	2.03	2.14
2012	1.98	2.17
2013	1.93	2.18
2014	1.89	2.13
2015	1.85	2.09
2016	1.81	2.06
2017	1.77	2.04
2018	1.75	2.03
2019	1.71	2.02
2020	1.63	2.01
2021	1.78	2
2022	1.54	1.98
2023	1.5	1.97
2024	1.5	1.95
2025	1.5	1.94
2026	1.5	1.93
2027	1.5	1.91
2028	1.5	1.9
2029	1.5	1.89
2030	1.5	1.88
2031	1.5	1.87
2032	1.5	1.86
2033	1.5	1.85
2034	1.5	1.85
2035	1.5	1.84
2036	1.5	1.83
2037	1.5	1.83
2038	1.5	1.82
2039	1.51	1.81
2040	1.51	1.81
2041	1.5	1.8
2042	1.5	1.8
2043	1.5	1.8
2044	1.51	1.79
2045	1.51	1.79
2046	1.5	1.79
2047	1.5	1.78
2048	1.5	1.78
2049	1.5	1.77
2050	1.5	1.77

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Ireland	Sri Lanka
1960	30.9%	41%
1961	31%	40.9%
1962	30.9%	40.8%
1963	30.9%	40.7%
1964	30.9%	40.6%
1965	31.1%	40.5%
1966	31.1%	40.4%
1967	31.1%	40.3%
1968	31.1%	40.1%
1969	31.1%	39.9%
1970	31.1%	39.7%
1971	31.2%	39.5%
1972	31.2%	39.2%
1973	31.2%	38.8%
1974	31.2%	38.4%
1975	31.1%	38%
1976	31%	37.6%
1977	30.9%	37.2%
1978	30.7%	36.9%
1979	30.5%	36.7%
1980	30.4%	36.4%
1981	30.3%	36.2%
1982	30.1%	36%
1983	29.9%	35.8%
1984	29.6%	35.5%
1985	29.3%	35.2%
1986	28.9%	34.6%
1987	28.5%	34%
1988	28.1%	33.5%
1989	27.6%	33%
1990	27.1%	32.5%
1991	26.6%	32.1%
1992	26%	31.4%
1993	25.5%	30.6%
1994	24.9%	29.9%
1995	24.2%	29.2%
1996	23.6%	28.6%
1997	23%	28.2%
1998	22.5%	27.8%
1999	22.1%	27.4%
2000	21.8%	27%
2001	21.4%	26.6%
2002	21.1%	26.3%
2003	21%	26.1%
2004	20.8%	26%
2005	20.6%	25.8%
2006	20.4%	25.7%
2007	20.3%	25.7%
2008	20.5%	25.6%
2009	20.7%	25.5%
2010	21.1%	25.4%
2011	21.4%	25.3%
2012	21.5%	25.2%
2013	21.5%	25%
2014	21.4%	24.9%
2015	21.3%	24.7%
2016	21.2%	24.5%
2017	20.9%	24.2%
2018	20.7%	24%
2019	20.4%	23.7%
2020	20.1%	23.3%
2021	19.8%	23%
2022	19.5%	22.7%
2023	19%	22.4%
2024	18.6%	22%
2025	18.1%	21.7%
2026	17.6%	21.4%
2027	17.2%	21.1%
2028	16.9%	20.8%
2029	16.6%	20.5%
2030	16.3%	20.2%
2031	16%	20%
2032	15.8%	19.8%
2033	15.6%	19.6%
2034	15.4%	19.4%
2035	15.3%	19.2%
2036	15.2%	19.1%
2037	15.1%	18.9%
2038	15.1%	18.8%
2039	15.2%	18.7%
2040	15.2%	18.6%
2041	15.3%	18.4%
2042	15.4%	18.3%
2043	15.4%	18.2%
2044	15.5%	18.1%
2045	15.6%	18%
2046	15.6%	17.9%
2047	15.7%	17.7%
2048	15.7%	17.6%
2049	15.7%	17.5%
2050	15.6%	17.3%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.6% of the population in Ireland and 22% in Sri Lanka in 2024, compared to 27.1% and 32.5% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Ireland and Sri Lanka compared.

Natural population change in Ireland vs Sri Lanka by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.58% in Ireland and +0.75% in Sri Lanka. 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
	Ireland	Sri Lanka
1960	28,286	247,631
1961	25,137	251,087
1962	28,077	256,719
1963	29,667	262,880
1964	31,532	269,584
1965	30,500	272,422
1966	26,866	275,549
1967	29,895	284,738
1968	27,697	286,642
1969	29,326	286,218
1970	30,756	286,719
1971	35,606	281,200
1972	34,316	282,494
1973	34,562	278,577
1974	34,199	275,521
1975	34,128	282,496
1976	33,676	291,816
1977	35,448	300,038
1978	36,288	317,055
1979	38,798	329,791
1980	40,612	328,155
1981	39,364	328,096
1982	38,344	300,030
1983	34,053	277,768
1984	31,791	263,175
1985	29,013	247,836
1986	27,963	233,782
1987	26,904	226,414
1988	22,912	219,184
1989	20,012	212,401
1990	21,787	224,454
1991	21,206	218,117
1992	20,283	222,230
1993	17,166	226,257
1994	17,234	228,904
1995	16,601	221,957
1996	18,915	215,290
1997	21,311	208,193
1998	22,277	201,059
1999	21,402	206,876
2000	23,592	227,060
2001	27,837	244,377
2002	31,062	252,840
2003	32,372	252,008
2004	33,376	212,527
2005	33,279	248,683
2006	36,752	248,706
2007	43,109	248,287
2008	46,691	232,225
2009	47,168	200,175
2010	47,426	224,325
2011	45,801	224,461
2012	42,775	229,138
2013	39,302	221,021
2014	37,728	211,541
2015	35,265	201,815
2016	33,339	194,232
2017	31,379	187,993
2018	29,878	183,610
2019	28,365	172,243
2020	23,687	170,968
2021	26,064	121,858
2022	19,287	95,378
2023	19,638	66,111

Maternal mortality chart: Ireland vs Sri Lanka

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in Ireland, compared to 18 deaths in Sri Lanka.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Ireland	Sri Lanka
1985	11	68
1986	11	66
1987	10	64
1988	11	62
1989	10	61
1990	11	59
1991	10	57
1992	10	54
1993	9	51
1994	9	49
1995	9	48
1996	8	47
1997	8	45
1998	8	43
1999	7	41
2000	8	39
2001	7	37
2002	7	36
2003	6	35
2004	6	37
2005	6	32
2006	6	32
2007	6	31
2008	6	30
2009	6	28
2010	6	26
2011	6	25
2012	6	24
2013	5	23
2014	5	23
2015	5	22
2016	4	22
2017	4	21
2018	5	21
2019	4	20
2020	6	23
2021	6	34
2022	7	22
2023	4	18

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.38% in Ireland and 0.61% in Sri Lanka. 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
	Ireland	Sri Lanka
1960	3.53%	9.41%
1961	3.38%	8.95%
1962	3.25%	8.66%
1963	3.13%	8.48%
1964	3.01%	8.3%
1965	2.87%	8.07%
1966	2.71%	7.81%
1967	2.55%	7.55%
1968	2.41%	7.32%
1969	2.3%	7.14%
1970	2.22%	7.02%
1971	2.17%	6.94%
1972	2.14%	6.86%
1973	2.11%	6.77%
1974	2.06%	6.62%
1975	2%	6.41%
1976	1.91%	6.12%
1977	1.81%	5.77%
1978	1.69%	5.38%
1979	1.56%	4.99%
1980	1.43%	4.63%
1981	1.32%	4.29%
1982	1.23%	3.98%
1983	1.17%	3.67%
1984	1.11%	3.35%
1985	1.07%	3.02%
1986	1.04%	2.74%
1987	1.02%	2.54%
1988	0.99%	2.41%
1989	0.96%	2.74%
1990	0.92%	2.33%
1991	0.87%	2.32%
1992	0.81%	2.29%
1993	0.77%	2.22%
1994	0.74%	2.14%
1995	0.73%	2.05%
1996	0.73%	1.95%
1997	0.73%	1.86%
1998	0.73%	1.76%
1999	0.73%	1.69%
2000	0.72%	1.63%
2001	0.69%	1.58%
2002	0.65%	1.55%
2003	0.6%	1.52%
2004	0.56%	2.88%
2005	0.52%	1.4%
2006	0.49%	1.33%
2007	0.46%	1.26%
2008	0.44%	1.2%
2009	0.43%	2.08%
2010	0.42%	1.12%
2011	0.41%	1.08%
2012	0.4%	1.03%
2013	0.39%	0.98%
2014	0.38%	0.92%
2015	0.37%	0.87%
2016	0.36%	0.83%
2017	0.35%	0.79%
2018	0.34%	0.76%
2019	0.34%	0.72%
2020	0.35%	0.69%
2021	0.36%	0.66%
2022	0.37%	0.64%
2023	0.38%	0.61%