Fertility & birth rates in Italy and South Africa

Fertility rate in Italy vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Italy was 1.2 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 Italy 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
	Italy	South Africa
1960	2.4	6.11
1961	2.44	6.08
1962	2.46	6.05
1963	2.51	6.01
1964	2.66	5.96
1965	2.6	5.89
1966	2.58	5.91
1967	2.5	5.85
1968	2.46	5.78
1969	2.47	5.72
1970	2.38	5.63
1971	2.4	5.57
1972	2.35	5.49
1973	2.3	5.41
1974	2.28	5.3
1975	2.17	5.19
1976	2.04	5.07
1977	1.93	4.94
1978	1.84	4.85
1979	1.73	4.82
1980	1.64	4.78
1981	1.58	4.71
1982	1.56	4.7
1983	1.51	4.63
1984	1.46	4.57
1985	1.42	4.5
1986	1.35	4.41
1987	1.33	4.35
1988	1.36	4.18
1989	1.33	3.98
1990	1.33	3.72
1991	1.3	3.62
1992	1.3	3.48
1993	1.25	3.37
1994	1.21	3.26
1995	1.19	3.17
1996	1.2	2.99
1997	1.22	2.73
1998	1.22	2.63
1999	1.23	2.56
2000	1.26	2.41
2001	1.25	2.37
2002	1.27	2.32
2003	1.29	2.36
2004	1.34	2.44
2005	1.33	2.51
2006	1.37	2.55
2007	1.39	2.55
2008	1.44	2.68
2009	1.44	2.5
2010	1.44	2.44
2011	1.42	2.44
2012	1.42	2.45
2013	1.39	2.43
2014	1.38	2.42
2015	1.36	2.36
2016	1.36	2.26
2017	1.34	2.28
2018	1.31	2.27
2019	1.27	2.26
2020	1.24	2.26
2021	1.25	2.25
2022	1.24	2.23
2023	1.2	2.22
2024	1.21	2.21
2025	1.22	2.19
2026	1.22	2.17
2027	1.23	2.15
2028	1.24	2.13
2029	1.24	2.12
2030	1.25	2.1
2031	1.26	2.09
2032	1.26	2.07
2033	1.27	2.06
2034	1.28	2.05
2035	1.28	2.04
2036	1.29	2.03
2037	1.29	2.02
2038	1.3	2
2039	1.3	1.99
2040	1.31	1.98
2041	1.31	1.98
2042	1.31	1.97
2043	1.32	1.96
2044	1.32	1.95
2045	1.33	1.94
2046	1.33	1.93
2047	1.34	1.92
2048	1.34	1.91
2049	1.35	1.9
2050	1.35	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Italy	South Africa
1960	25%	42.1%
1961	25%	42.1%
1962	24.7%	42.1%
1963	24.5%	42.1%
1964	24.5%	42.1%
1965	24.5%	42.1%
1966	24.5%	42.1%
1967	24.6%	42.2%
1968	24.6%	42.2%
1969	24.7%	42.2%
1970	24.7%	42.3%
1971	24.6%	42.2%
1972	24.6%	42.2%
1973	24.6%	42.1%
1974	24.5%	42%
1975	24.3%	41.9%
1976	24.1%	41.8%
1977	23.7%	41.7%
1978	23.4%	41.5%
1979	22.8%	41.3%
1980	22.3%	40.9%
1981	21.6%	40.5%
1982	21.1%	40.1%
1983	20.5%	39.8%
1984	19.9%	39.5%
1985	19.3%	39.2%
1986	18.7%	38.9%
1987	18.1%	38.7%
1988	17.5%	38.4%
1989	17%	38.1%
1990	16.5%	37.7%
1991	15.8%	37.5%
1992	15.2%	37.6%
1993	15%	37.3%
1994	14.8%	37.2%
1995	14.6%	37.5%
1996	14.5%	37.5%
1997	14.4%	37.2%
1998	14.3%	36.5%
1999	14.3%	35.7%
2000	14.3%	34.9%
2001	14.2%	34%
2002	14.2%	33.2%
2003	14.2%	32.3%
2004	14.2%	31.6%
2005	14.1%	31.1%
2006	14.1%	30.6%
2007	14%	30.2%
2008	14%	29.9%
2009	14%	29.7%
2010	14%	29.4%
2011	14%	29.1%
2012	14%	28.9%
2013	13.9%	28.7%
2014	13.8%	28.5%
2015	13.7%	28.3%
2016	13.6%	28.3%
2017	13.4%	28.3%
2018	13.2%	27.9%
2019	13%	27.4%
2020	12.8%	27%
2021	12.6%	26.6%
2022	12.4%	26.3%
2023	12.1%	26.1%
2024	11.9%	25.9%
2025	11.7%	25.7%
2026	11.4%	25.6%
2027	11.2%	25.4%
2028	11%	25.3%
2029	10.9%	25.2%
2030	10.7%	25.2%
2031	10.6%	25.1%
2032	10.5%	25%
2033	10.4%	24.8%
2034	10.3%	24.5%
2035	10.3%	24.3%
2036	10.3%	23.9%
2037	10.3%	23.6%
2038	10.3%	23.4%
2039	10.4%	23.1%
2040	10.4%	22.9%
2041	10.5%	22.7%
2042	10.5%	22.5%
2043	10.6%	22.4%
2044	10.7%	22.2%
2045	10.7%	22.1%
2046	10.8%	21.9%
2047	10.8%	21.8%
2048	10.9%	21.7%
2049	10.9%	21.6%
2050	10.9%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.9% of the population in Italy and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 16.5% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Italy and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Italy vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.38% in Italy 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
	Italy	South Africa
1960	426,697	421,263
1961	459,880	437,851
1962	427,387	455,634
1963	440,767	473,821
1964	527,089	490,606
1965	474,222	506,632
1966	488,427	534,862
1967	439,074	553,741
1968	399,268	571,841
1969	390,827	590,794
1970	376,753	605,102
1971	383,922	624,761
1972	364,355	638,754
1973	328,508	651,596
1974	336,176	658,438
1975	271,660	667,862
1976	228,445	675,011
1977	190,248	680,929
1978	168,465	694,341
1979	129,531	716,541
1980	84,650	738,415
1981	73,452	767,833
1982	79,161	807,550
1983	33,939	837,013
1984	50,919	869,011
1985	28,297	893,889
1986	11,319	903,644
1987	16,980	922,330
1988	33,977	909,221
1989	28,336	884,629
1990	22,688	835,421
1991	11,352	827,296
1992	22,718	794,415
1993	0	789,220
1994	-17,053	698,609
1995	-34,107	743,488
1996	-22,744	710,868
1997	-22,756	667,969
1998	-39,835	627,027
1999	-22,766	594,643
2000	-17,082	526,963
2001	-11,396	484,801
2002	-22,836	430,926
2003	-40,179	415,018
2004	11,566	442,540
2005	-17,450	464,464
2006	0	487,584
2007	-5,876	503,567
2008	-11,842	595,332
2009	-17,866	554,115
2010	-23,928	566,834
2011	-48,021	601,708
2012	-78,248	643,723
2013	-90,468	652,427
2014	-96,513	674,754
2015	-162,620	668,771
2016	-138,265	641,365
2017	-192,007	645,975
2018	-192,475	648,319
2019	-215,025	652,130
2020	-338,801	595,873
2021	-301,579	456,411
2022	-318,674	603,636
2023	-283,168	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Italy vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 6 deaths per 100,000 live births in Italy, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Italy	South Africa
1985	22	208
1986	22	200
1987	21	192
1988	20	184
1989	19	177
1990	18	170
1991	18	162
1992	17	152
1993	16	145
1994	15	133
1995	15	125
1996	14	150
1997	13	152
1998	12	152
1999	11	151
2000	11	175
2001	10	192
2002	10	225
2003	8	245
2004	8	259
2005	8	279
2006	7	283
2007	7	272
2008	7	272
2009	8	241
2010	8	226
2011	8	202
2012	8	194
2013	8	180
2014	8	162
2015	8	150
2016	8	141
2017	8	134
2018	7	128
2019	7	119
2020	8	118
2021	7	191
2022	10	129
2023	6	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.28% in Italy 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
	Italy	South Africa
1960	5.19%	-
1961	4.98%	-
1962	4.76%	-
1963	4.53%	-
1964	4.31%	-
1965	4.11%	-
1966	3.93%	-
1967	3.78%	-
1968	3.64%	-
1969	3.51%	-
1970	3.36%	-
1971	3.18%	-
1972	2.98%	-
1973	2.76%	-
1974	2.53%	13.2%
1975	2.31%	12.5%
1976	2.11%	11.8%
1977	1.95%	11.1%
1978	1.82%	10.5%
1979	1.7%	9.88%
1980	1.61%	9.35%
1981	1.52%	8.84%
1982	1.43%	8.39%
1983	1.35%	7.98%
1984	1.27%	7.6%
1985	1.2%	7.24%
1986	1.14%	6.89%
1987	1.08%	6.56%
1988	1.04%	6.26%
1989	1%	6.01%
1990	0.97%	5.82%
1991	0.93%	5.7%
1992	0.89%	5.66%
1993	0.85%	5.7%
1994	0.8%	5.82%
1995	0.75%	5.95%
1996	0.7%	6.11%
1997	0.66%	6.29%
1998	0.62%	6.56%
1999	0.59%	6.85%
2000	0.56%	7.11%
2001	0.53%	7.43%
2002	0.51%	7.69%
2003	0.48%	7.93%
2004	0.46%	8.1%
2005	0.45%	8.03%
2006	0.43%	7.75%
2007	0.42%	7.19%
2008	0.41%	6.42%
2009	0.41%	5.7%
2010	0.4%	5%
2011	0.39%	4.5%
2012	0.38%	4.25%
2013	0.37%	4.1%
2014	0.36%	3.96%
2015	0.35%	3.82%
2016	0.34%	3.68%
2017	0.33%	3.58%
2018	0.32%	3.49%
2019	0.31%	3.45%
2020	0.3%	3.41%
2021	0.29%	3.41%
2022	0.28%	3.44%
2023	0.28%	3.47%