Fertility & birth rates in Jamaica and South Africa

Fertility rate in Jamaica vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Jamaica was 1.36 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 Jamaica 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
	Jamaica	South Africa
1960	5.54	6.11
1961	5.6	6.08
1962	5.64	6.05
1963	5.73	6.01
1964	5.79	5.96
1965	5.72	5.89
1966	5.69	5.91
1967	5.67	5.85
1968	5.58	5.78
1969	5.47	5.72
1970	5.35	5.63
1971	5.21	5.57
1972	5.06	5.49
1973	5	5.41
1974	4.67	5.3
1975	4.44	5.19
1976	4.21	5.07
1977	4	4.94
1978	3.84	4.85
1979	3.72	4.82
1980	3.59	4.78
1981	3.51	4.71
1982	3.46	4.7
1983	3.41	4.63
1984	3.32	4.57
1985	3.21	4.5
1986	3.11	4.41
1987	3.02	4.35
1988	2.98	4.18
1989	2.93	3.98
1990	2.96	3.72
1991	3	3.62
1992	3.03	3.48
1993	2.99	3.37
1994	2.93	3.26
1995	2.85	3.17
1996	2.77	2.99
1997	2.68	2.73
1998	2.57	2.63
1999	2.47	2.56
2000	2.35	2.41
2001	2.3	2.37
2002	2.27	2.32
2003	2.24	2.36
2004	2.2	2.44
2005	2.15	2.51
2006	2.09	2.55
2007	2.02	2.55
2008	1.95	2.68
2009	1.88	2.5
2010	1.8	2.44
2011	1.72	2.44
2012	1.65	2.45
2013	1.59	2.43
2014	1.54	2.42
2015	1.51	2.36
2016	1.46	2.26
2017	1.43	2.28
2018	1.4	2.27
2019	1.39	2.26
2020	1.38	2.26
2021	1.38	2.25
2022	1.37	2.23
2023	1.36	2.22
2024	1.35	2.21
2025	1.34	2.19
2026	1.33	2.17
2027	1.33	2.15
2028	1.33	2.13
2029	1.33	2.12
2030	1.33	2.1
2031	1.33	2.09
2032	1.34	2.07
2033	1.34	2.06
2034	1.34	2.05
2035	1.35	2.04
2036	1.35	2.03
2037	1.36	2.02
2038	1.36	2
2039	1.37	1.99
2040	1.37	1.98
2041	1.37	1.98
2042	1.37	1.97
2043	1.38	1.96
2044	1.38	1.95
2045	1.39	1.94
2046	1.39	1.93
2047	1.39	1.92
2048	1.4	1.91
2049	1.4	1.9
2050	1.41	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Jamaica	South Africa
1960	41.2%	42.1%
1961	41.7%	42.1%
1962	42.2%	42.1%
1963	42.7%	42.1%
1964	43.3%	42.1%
1965	43.9%	42.1%
1966	44.3%	42.1%
1967	44.6%	42.2%
1968	44.9%	42.2%
1969	45%	42.2%
1970	45%	42.3%
1971	44.8%	42.2%
1972	44.4%	42.2%
1973	44%	42.1%
1974	43.5%	42%
1975	42.9%	41.9%
1976	42.3%	41.8%
1977	41.7%	41.7%
1978	41%	41.5%
1979	40.4%	41.3%
1980	39.8%	40.9%
1981	39.2%	40.5%
1982	38.7%	40.1%
1983	38.2%	39.8%
1984	37.9%	39.5%
1985	37.5%	39.2%
1986	37.2%	38.9%
1987	36.8%	38.7%
1988	36.5%	38.4%
1989	36.1%	38.1%
1990	35.8%	37.7%
1991	35.5%	37.5%
1992	35.4%	37.6%
1993	35.3%	37.3%
1994	35.2%	37.2%
1995	35.1%	37.5%
1996	34.9%	37.5%
1997	34.6%	37.2%
1998	34.2%	36.5%
1999	33.8%	35.7%
2000	33.2%	34.9%
2001	32.7%	34%
2002	32.2%	33.2%
2003	31.7%	32.3%
2004	31.2%	31.6%
2005	30.6%	31.1%
2006	30%	30.6%
2007	29.3%	30.2%
2008	28.5%	29.9%
2009	27.7%	29.7%
2010	26.9%	29.4%
2011	26.2%	29.1%
2012	25.4%	28.9%
2013	24.7%	28.7%
2014	24%	28.5%
2015	23.4%	28.3%
2016	22.8%	28.3%
2017	22.3%	28.3%
2018	21.7%	27.9%
2019	21.1%	27.4%
2020	20.6%	27%
2021	20%	26.6%
2022	19.6%	26.3%
2023	19.1%	26.1%
2024	18.7%	25.9%
2025	18.3%	25.7%
2026	17.9%	25.6%
2027	17.6%	25.4%
2028	17.2%	25.3%
2029	16.9%	25.2%
2030	16.7%	25.2%
2031	16.4%	25.1%
2032	16.2%	25%
2033	15.9%	24.8%
2034	15.7%	24.5%
2035	15.5%	24.3%
2036	15.3%	23.9%
2037	15.1%	23.6%
2038	14.8%	23.4%
2039	14.6%	23.1%
2040	14.4%	22.9%
2041	14.2%	22.7%
2042	14%	22.5%
2043	13.8%	22.4%
2044	13.6%	22.2%
2045	13.4%	22.1%
2046	13.2%	21.9%
2047	13%	21.8%
2048	12.8%	21.7%
2049	12.6%	21.6%
2050	12.5%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.7% of the population in Jamaica and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 35.8% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Jamaica and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Jamaica vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.49% in Jamaica 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
	Jamaica	South Africa
1960	51,944	421,263
1961	51,931	437,851
1962	51,758	455,634
1963	52,277	473,821
1964	52,501	490,606
1965	51,423	506,632
1966	50,808	534,862
1967	50,187	553,741
1968	49,189	571,841
1969	48,258	590,794
1970	47,547	605,102
1971	47,206	624,761
1972	46,676	638,754
1973	47,438	651,596
1974	45,526	658,438
1975	44,736	667,862
1976	43,878	675,011
1977	42,999	680,929
1978	42,475	694,341
1979	42,449	716,541
1980	42,316	738,415
1981	42,898	767,833
1982	43,816	807,550
1983	45,095	837,013
1984	45,644	869,011
1985	45,122	893,889
1986	44,520	903,644
1987	44,155	922,330
1988	43,978	909,221
1989	43,591	884,629
1990	44,465	835,421
1991	45,617	827,296
1992	46,494	794,415
1993	46,090	789,220
1994	45,210	698,609
1995	43,705	743,488
1996	42,297	710,868
1997	40,521	667,969
1998	38,628	627,027
1999	36,649	594,643
2000	34,452	526,963
2001	33,666	484,801
2002	33,572	430,926
2003	33,340	415,018
2004	32,500	442,540
2005	31,506	464,464
2006	30,213	487,584
2007	28,886	503,567
2008	27,553	595,332
2009	26,311	554,115
2010	25,031	566,834
2011	23,627	601,708
2012	22,320	643,723
2013	21,037	652,427
2014	19,751	674,754
2015	18,489	668,771
2016	16,944	641,365
2017	15,419	645,975
2018	13,929	648,319
2019	13,094	652,130
2020	12,170	595,873
2021	6,382	456,411
2022	11,215	603,636
2023	10,072	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Jamaica vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 130 deaths per 100,000 live births in Jamaica, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Jamaica	South Africa
1985	45	208
1986	45	200
1987	46	192
1988	48	184
1989	50	177
1990	54	170
1991	58	162
1992	62	152
1993	67	145
1994	71	133
1995	74	125
1996	77	150
1997	79	152
1998	80	152
1999	81	151
2000	82	175
2001	82	192
2002	81	225
2003	79	245
2004	77	259
2005	81	279
2006	89	283
2007	89	272
2008	91	272
2009	93	241
2010	94	226
2011	89	202
2012	89	194
2013	94	180
2014	100	162
2015	100	150
2016	102	141
2017	106	134
2018	112	128
2019	120	119
2020	126	118
2021	186	191
2022	138	129
2023	130	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.93% in Jamaica 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
	Jamaica	South Africa
1960	8.17%	-
1961	7.79%	-
1962	7.45%	-
1963	7.17%	-
1964	6.91%	-
1965	6.69%	-
1966	6.49%	-
1967	6.28%	-
1968	6.08%	-
1969	5.87%	-
1970	5.64%	-
1971	5.41%	-
1972	5.18%	-
1973	4.95%	-
1974	4.74%	13.2%
1975	4.55%	12.5%
1976	4.37%	11.8%
1977	4.21%	11.1%
1978	4.06%	10.5%
1979	3.92%	9.88%
1980	3.78%	9.35%
1981	3.66%	8.84%
1982	3.54%	8.39%
1983	3.43%	7.98%
1984	3.32%	7.6%
1985	3.22%	7.24%
1986	3.13%	6.89%
1987	3.04%	6.56%
1988	2.96%	6.26%
1989	2.88%	6.01%
1990	2.8%	5.82%
1991	2.73%	5.7%
1992	2.66%	5.66%
1993	2.58%	5.7%
1994	2.51%	5.82%
1995	2.43%	5.95%
1996	2.35%	6.11%
1997	2.27%	6.29%
1998	2.19%	6.56%
1999	2.12%	6.85%
2000	2.06%	7.11%
2001	2%	7.43%
2002	1.97%	7.69%
2003	1.94%	7.93%
2004	1.92%	8.1%
2005	1.92%	8.03%
2006	1.91%	7.75%
2007	1.92%	7.19%
2008	1.92%	6.42%
2009	1.91%	5.7%
2010	1.91%	5%
2011	1.9%	4.5%
2012	1.89%	4.25%
2013	1.88%	4.1%
2014	1.87%	3.96%
2015	1.87%	3.82%
2016	1.86%	3.68%
2017	1.86%	3.58%
2018	1.87%	3.49%
2019	1.88%	3.45%
2020	1.9%	3.41%
2021	1.91%	3.41%
2022	1.93%	3.44%
2023	1.93%	3.47%