Fertility & birth rates in Italy and South Korea

Fertility rate in Italy vs South Korea 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 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Italy vs South Korea 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 Korea
1960	2.4	5.99
1961	2.44	5.8
1962	2.46	5.56
1963	2.51	5.33
1964	2.66	5.07
1965	2.6	4.89
1966	2.58	4.78
1967	2.5	4.62
1968	2.46	4.51
1969	2.47	4.45
1970	2.38	4.53
1971	2.4	4.54
1972	2.35	4.12
1973	2.3	4.07
1974	2.28	3.77
1975	2.17	3.43
1976	2.04	3
1977	1.93	2.99
1978	1.84	2.64
1979	1.73	2.9
1980	1.64	2.82
1981	1.58	2.57
1982	1.56	2.39
1983	1.51	2.06
1984	1.46	1.74
1985	1.42	1.66
1986	1.35	1.58
1987	1.33	1.53
1988	1.36	1.55
1989	1.33	1.56
1990	1.33	1.57
1991	1.3	1.71
1992	1.3	1.76
1993	1.25	1.65
1994	1.21	1.66
1995	1.19	1.63
1996	1.2	1.57
1997	1.22	1.54
1998	1.22	1.46
1999	1.23	1.43
2000	1.26	1.48
2001	1.25	1.31
2002	1.27	1.18
2003	1.29	1.19
2004	1.34	1.16
2005	1.33	1.09
2006	1.37	1.13
2007	1.39	1.26
2008	1.44	1.19
2009	1.44	1.15
2010	1.44	1.23
2011	1.42	1.24
2012	1.42	1.3
2013	1.39	1.19
2014	1.38	1.21
2015	1.36	1.24
2016	1.36	1.17
2017	1.34	1.05
2018	1.31	0.98
2019	1.27	0.92
2020	1.24	0.84
2021	1.25	0.81
2022	1.24	0.78
2023	1.2	0.72
2024	1.21	0.73
2025	1.22	0.75
2026	1.22	0.76
2027	1.23	0.78
2028	1.24	0.79
2029	1.24	0.8
2030	1.25	0.82
2031	1.26	0.83
2032	1.26	0.84
2033	1.27	0.85
2034	1.28	0.86
2035	1.28	0.88
2036	1.29	0.89
2037	1.29	0.9
2038	1.3	0.91
2039	1.3	0.92
2040	1.31	0.93
2041	1.31	0.95
2042	1.31	0.96
2043	1.32	0.96
2044	1.32	0.97
2045	1.33	0.98
2046	1.33	0.99
2047	1.34	1
2048	1.34	1.01
2049	1.35	1.02
2050	1.35	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Italy	South Korea
1960	25%	41.3%
1961	25%	41.8%
1962	24.7%	42.3%
1963	24.5%	42.7%
1964	24.5%	43.1%
1965	24.5%	43.3%
1966	24.5%	43.5%
1967	24.6%	43.3%
1968	24.6%	43.1%
1969	24.7%	42.7%
1970	24.7%	42.1%
1971	24.6%	41.5%
1972	24.6%	41%
1973	24.6%	40.3%
1974	24.5%	39.5%
1975	24.3%	38.5%
1976	24.1%	37.5%
1977	23.7%	36.5%
1978	23.4%	35.6%
1979	22.8%	34.8%
1980	22.3%	34%
1981	21.6%	33.3%
1982	21.1%	32.7%
1983	20.5%	32%
1984	19.9%	31.2%
1985	19.3%	30.2%
1986	18.7%	29.2%
1987	18.1%	28.2%
1988	17.5%	27.3%
1989	17%	26.5%
1990	16.5%	25.8%
1991	15.8%	25.2%
1992	15.2%	24.7%
1993	15%	24.2%
1994	14.8%	23.7%
1995	14.6%	23.1%
1996	14.5%	22.5%
1997	14.4%	22%
1998	14.3%	21.6%
1999	14.3%	21.2%
2000	14.3%	21%
2001	14.2%	20.8%
2002	14.2%	20.5%
2003	14.2%	20.1%
2004	14.2%	19.7%
2005	14.1%	19.2%
2006	14.1%	18.7%
2007	14%	18.1%
2008	14%	17.5%
2009	14%	16.9%
2010	14%	16.4%
2011	14%	15.8%
2012	14%	15.2%
2013	13.9%	14.7%
2014	13.8%	14.2%
2015	13.7%	13.8%
2016	13.6%	13.4%
2017	13.4%	13%
2018	13.2%	12.7%
2019	13%	12.4%
2020	12.8%	12.1%
2021	12.6%	11.8%
2022	12.4%	11.4%
2023	12.1%	11%
2024	11.9%	10.6%
2025	11.7%	10.2%
2026	11.4%	9.82%
2027	11.2%	9.42%
2028	11%	9.06%
2029	10.9%	8.75%
2030	10.7%	8.43%
2031	10.6%	8.15%
2032	10.5%	7.94%
2033	10.4%	7.79%
2034	10.3%	7.7%
2035	10.3%	7.66%
2036	10.3%	7.65%
2037	10.3%	7.66%
2038	10.3%	7.68%
2039	10.4%	7.71%
2040	10.4%	7.73%
2041	10.5%	7.75%
2042	10.5%	7.76%
2043	10.6%	7.77%
2044	10.7%	7.78%
2045	10.7%	7.79%
2046	10.8%	7.8%
2047	10.8%	7.81%
2048	10.9%	7.82%
2049	10.9%	7.82%
2050	10.9%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.9% of the population in Italy and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 16.5% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Italy and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Italy vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.38% in Italy and +0.06% in South Korea. 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 Korea
1960	426,697	728,010
1961	459,880	730,173
1962	427,387	712,590
1963	440,767	685,824
1964	527,089	655,501
1965	474,222	641,090
1966	488,427	623,534
1967	439,074	692,169
1968	399,268	684,487
1969	390,827	694,227
1970	376,753	747,987
1971	383,922	789,185
1972	364,355	740,469
1973	328,508	699,115
1974	336,176	673,030
1975	271,660	603,300
1976	228,445	530,558
1977	190,248	578,947
1978	168,465	499,084
1979	129,531	623,068
1980	84,650	583,294
1981	73,452	631,189
1982	79,161	605,626
1983	33,939	514,844
1984	50,919	436,384
1985	28,297	416,219
1986	11,319	395,651
1987	16,980	378,758
1988	33,977	399,297
1989	28,336	403,266
1990	22,688	411,546
1991	11,352	467,594
1992	22,718	494,352
1993	0	477,302
1994	-17,053	473,200
1995	-34,107	468,967
1996	-22,744	446,142
1997	-22,756	422,773
1998	-39,835	393,436
1999	-22,766	368,272
2000	-17,082	390,167
2001	-11,396	312,643
2002	-22,836	247,752
2003	-40,179	244,251
2004	11,566	225,988
2005	-17,450	187,920
2006	0	203,441
2007	-5,876	248,286
2008	-11,842	215,841
2009	-17,866	197,231
2010	-23,928	213,083
2011	-48,021	214,728
2012	-78,248	215,859
2013	-90,468	166,415
2014	-96,513	167,464
2015	-162,620	163,248
2016	-138,265	122,923
2017	-192,007	71,907
2018	-192,475	30,951
2019	-215,025	10,353
2020	-338,801	-31,101
2021	-301,579	-56,947
2022	-318,674	-124,014
2023	-283,168	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Italy vs South Korea

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 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Italy	South Korea
1985	22	38
1986	22	35
1987	21	34
1988	20	31
1989	19	29
1990	18	28
1991	18	28
1992	17	26
1993	16	24
1994	15	23
1995	15	22
1996	14	20
1997	13	19
1998	12	18
1999	11	17
2000	11	15
2001	10	14
2002	10	13
2003	8	13
2004	8	12
2005	8	11
2006	7	10
2007	7	10
2008	7	9
2009	8	9
2010	8	8
2011	8	8
2012	8	8
2013	8	7
2014	8	7
2015	8	6
2016	8	6
2017	8	6
2018	7	5
2019	7	5
2020	8	12
2021	7	5
2022	10	7
2023	6	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.28% in Italy and 0.28% in South Korea. 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 Korea
1960	5.19%	11.2%
1961	4.98%	10.6%
1962	4.76%	10.1%
1963	4.53%	9.67%
1964	4.31%	9.18%
1965	4.11%	8.68%
1966	3.93%	8.16%
1967	3.78%	7.62%
1968	3.64%	7.1%
1969	3.51%	6.59%
1970	3.36%	6.12%
1971	3.18%	5.71%
1972	2.98%	5.36%
1973	2.76%	5.07%
1974	2.53%	4.82%
1975	2.31%	4.61%
1976	2.11%	4.42%
1977	1.95%	4.23%
1978	1.82%	4.04%
1979	1.7%	3.84%
1980	1.61%	3.63%
1981	1.52%	3.4%
1982	1.43%	3.17%
1983	1.35%	2.93%
1984	1.27%	2.7%
1985	1.2%	2.46%
1986	1.14%	2.25%
1987	1.08%	2.05%
1988	1.04%	1.87%
1989	1%	1.71%
1990	0.97%	1.57%
1991	0.93%	1.44%
1992	0.89%	1.33%
1993	0.85%	1.23%
1994	0.8%	1.14%
1995	0.75%	1.05%
1996	0.7%	0.98%
1997	0.66%	0.91%
1998	0.62%	0.85%
1999	0.59%	0.8%
2000	0.56%	0.75%
2001	0.53%	0.71%
2002	0.51%	0.68%
2003	0.48%	0.64%
2004	0.46%	0.6%
2005	0.45%	0.56%
2006	0.43%	0.52%
2007	0.42%	0.48%
2008	0.41%	0.45%
2009	0.41%	0.43%
2010	0.4%	0.41%
2011	0.39%	0.4%
2012	0.38%	0.38%
2013	0.37%	0.37%
2014	0.36%	0.36%
2015	0.35%	0.35%
2016	0.34%	0.34%
2017	0.33%	0.33%
2018	0.32%	0.32%
2019	0.31%	0.31%
2020	0.3%	0.3%
2021	0.29%	0.29%
2022	0.28%	0.28%
2023	0.28%	0.28%