Fertility & birth rates in Japan and Netherlands

Fertility rate in Japan vs Netherlands chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Japan was 1.2 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.43 in the Netherlands in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Japan vs the Netherlands population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Japan	Netherlands
1960	2	3.12
1961	1.96	3.22
1962	1.98	3.18
1963	2	3.19
1964	2.05	3.17
1965	2.14	3.04
1966	1.58	2.9
1967	2.23	2.81
1968	2.13	2.72
1969	2.13	2.75
1970	2.13	2.57
1971	2.16	2.36
1972	2.14	2.15
1973	2.14	1.9
1974	2.05	1.77
1975	1.91	1.66
1976	1.85	1.63
1977	1.8	1.58
1978	1.79	1.58
1979	1.77	1.56
1980	1.75	1.6
1981	1.74	1.56
1982	1.77	1.5
1983	1.8	1.47
1984	1.81	1.49
1985	1.76	1.51
1986	1.72	1.55
1987	1.69	1.56
1988	1.66	1.55
1989	1.57	1.55
1990	1.54	1.62
1991	1.53	1.61
1992	1.5	1.59
1993	1.46	1.57
1994	1.5	1.57
1995	1.42	1.53
1996	1.43	1.53
1997	1.39	1.56
1998	1.38	1.63
1999	1.34	1.65
2000	1.36	1.72
2001	1.33	1.71
2002	1.32	1.73
2003	1.29	1.75
2004	1.29	1.72
2005	1.26	1.71
2006	1.32	1.72
2007	1.34	1.72
2008	1.37	1.77
2009	1.37	1.79
2010	1.39	1.79
2011	1.39	1.76
2012	1.41	1.72
2013	1.43	1.68
2014	1.42	1.71
2015	1.45	1.66
2016	1.44	1.66
2017	1.43	1.62
2018	1.42	1.59
2019	1.36	1.57
2020	1.33	1.54
2021	1.3	1.62
2022	1.26	1.49
2023	1.2	1.43
2024	1.21	1.43
2025	1.22	1.44
2026	1.22	1.44
2027	1.23	1.45
2028	1.24	1.45
2029	1.25	1.45
2030	1.25	1.46
2031	1.26	1.46
2032	1.26	1.47
2033	1.27	1.47
2034	1.28	1.48
2035	1.28	1.48
2036	1.29	1.48
2037	1.29	1.48
2038	1.3	1.48
2039	1.3	1.49
2040	1.3	1.49
2041	1.31	1.49
2042	1.31	1.5
2043	1.31	1.5
2044	1.32	1.5
2045	1.32	1.5
2046	1.33	1.5
2047	1.33	1.51
2048	1.33	1.51
2049	1.34	1.51
2050	1.34	1.51

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Japan	Netherlands
1960	29.8%	30%
1961	29.1%	29.7%
1962	28%	29.1%
1963	26.8%	28.7%
1964	25.8%	28.5%
1965	25.1%	28.3%
1966	24.4%	28.1%
1967	23.8%	27.8%
1968	23.5%	27.6%
1969	23.4%	27.5%
1970	23.3%	27.3%
1971	23.3%	27.1%
1972	23.4%	26.8%
1973	23.6%	26.4%
1974	23.8%	25.9%
1975	23.8%	25.3%
1976	23.9%	24.8%
1977	23.9%	24.2%
1978	23.8%	23.5%
1979	23.7%	22.9%
1980	23.4%	22.3%
1981	23.3%	21.8%
1982	23.1%	21.3%
1983	22.6%	20.7%
1984	22.2%	20.1%
1985	21.7%	19.5%
1986	21%	19.1%
1987	20.3%	18.7%
1988	19.5%	18.5%
1989	18.8%	18.4%
1990	18%	18.4%
1991	17.4%	18.4%
1992	16.9%	18.5%
1993	16.4%	18.5%
1994	16%	18.6%
1995	15.6%	18.6%
1996	15.3%	18.6%
1997	15.1%	18.6%
1998	14.8%	18.6%
1999	14.6%	18.7%
2000	14.4%	18.8%
2001	14.2%	18.8%
2002	14.1%	18.8%
2003	13.9%	18.7%
2004	13.8%	18.6%
2005	13.8%	18.5%
2006	13.7%	18.3%
2007	13.6%	18.1%
2008	13.5%	17.9%
2009	13.5%	17.7%
2010	13.4%	17.6%
2011	13.3%	17.4%
2012	13.2%	17.3%
2013	13.1%	17.1%
2014	13%	16.9%
2015	12.8%	16.6%
2016	12.7%	16.4%
2017	12.6%	16.2%
2018	12.5%	16%
2019	12.4%	15.8%
2020	12.2%	15.6%
2021	12%	15.5%
2022	11.9%	15.4%
2023	11.6%	15.2%
2024	11.4%	15%
2025	11.2%	14.9%
2026	11%	14.9%
2027	10.9%	14.8%
2028	10.7%	14.8%
2029	10.5%	14.8%
2030	10.4%	14.8%
2031	10.3%	14.8%
2032	10.2%	14.7%
2033	10.1%	14.7%
2034	10.1%	14.7%
2035	10.1%	14.7%
2036	10.1%	14.7%
2037	10.1%	14.6%
2038	10.2%	14.6%
2039	10.3%	14.6%
2040	10.4%	14.5%
2041	10.5%	14.5%
2042	10.6%	14.4%
2043	10.7%	14.4%
2044	10.8%	14.3%
2045	10.9%	14.2%
2046	11%	14.1%
2047	11.1%	14.1%
2048	11.2%	14%
2049	11.2%	13.9%
2050	11.2%	13.8%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.4% of the population in Japan and 15% in the Netherlands in 2024, compared to 18% and 18.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Japan and the Netherlands compared.

Natural population change in Japan vs Netherlands by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.41% in Japan and +0.08% in the Netherlands. 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
	Japan	Netherlands
1960	894,874	151,623
1961	893,522	159,450
1962	901,864	153,474
1963	987,770	154,361
1964	1,046,553	157,653
1965	1,126,448	146,308
1966	682,072	138,265
1967	1,258,475	138,580
1968	1,191,930	132,389
1969	1,195,962	139,082
1970	1,230,496	129,082
1971	1,331,782	116,112
1972	1,372,006	101,297
1973	1,391,449	84,668
1974	1,332,960	75,853
1975	1,204,989	64,232
1976	1,127,750	63,361
1977	1,070,397	63,739
1978	1,011,234	61,344
1979	950,298	63,172
1980	864,372	66,504
1981	811,861	62,688
1982	805,664	54,388
1983	775,495	51,722
1984	756,523	54,812
1985	676,687	55,069
1986	631,706	59,746
1987	598,138	64,526
1988	527,085	61,993
1989	467,662	59,396
1990	407,478	68,777
1991	396,685	69,321
1992	360,833	66,811
1993	312,073	58,103
1994	363,017	61,532
1995	276,039	54,106
1996	314,392	51,251
1997	277,325	56,198
1998	265,440	61,258
1999	202,610	60,086
2000	228,317	66,887
2001	203,438	62,580
2002	178,423	59,751
2003	114,946	58,411
2004	76,656	56,987
2005	-25,554	50,592
2006	12,785	49,038
2007	-25,600	49,145
2008	-51,225	49,337
2009	-76,828	51,244
2010	-128,070	48,184
2011	-204,533	45,072
2012	-229,733	35,186
2013	-242,146	30,248
2014	-267,279	35,417
2015	-292,424	23,716
2016	-343,106	23,843
2017	-406,310	18,844
2018	-456,520	15,508
2019	-531,858	17,345
2020	-542,923	0
2021	-640,976	7,014
2022	-825,825	-1,770
2023	-871,617	-5,363

Maternal mortality chart: Japan vs Netherlands

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 3 deaths per 100,000 live births in Japan, compared to 4 deaths in the Netherlands.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Japan	Netherlands
1985	19	12
1986	18	12
1987	17	12
1988	16	12
1989	15	12
1990	14	12
1991	13	12
1992	13	12
1993	12	12
1994	11	12
1995	11	12
1996	11	12
1997	10	13
1998	10	12
1999	9	13
2000	9	13
2001	8	13
2002	8	13
2003	8	12
2004	7	11
2005	7	10
2006	7	9
2007	6	8
2008	6	8
2009	6	7
2010	6	6
2011	6	7
2012	6	6
2013	5	6
2014	5	5
2015	5	5
2016	5	5
2017	5	5
2018	5	5
2019	5	5
2020	4	4
2021	4	5
2022	5	4
2023	3	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.24% in Japan and 0.4% in the Netherlands. 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
	Japan	Netherlands
1960	3.97%	2.08%
1961	3.62%	2.03%
1962	3.29%	1.97%
1963	2.98%	1.92%
1964	2.7%	1.88%
1965	2.46%	1.83%
1966	2.26%	1.79%
1967	2.1%	1.74%
1968	1.96%	1.69%
1969	1.85%	1.64%
1970	1.75%	1.58%
1971	1.65%	1.53%
1972	1.57%	1.47%
1973	1.49%	1.41%
1974	1.41%	1.36%
1975	1.33%	1.31%
1976	1.25%	1.26%
1977	1.18%	1.21%
1978	1.11%	1.16%
1979	1.05%	1.12%
1980	0.99%	1.09%
1981	0.93%	1.06%
1982	0.88%	1.04%
1983	0.83%	1.02%
1984	0.79%	0.99%
1985	0.75%	0.97%
1986	0.71%	0.95%
1987	0.68%	0.92%
1988	0.66%	0.89%
1989	0.64%	0.86%
1990	0.63%	0.83%
1991	0.62%	0.8%
1992	0.61%	0.77%
1993	0.6%	0.74%
1994	0.59%	0.71%
1995	0.57%	0.69%
1996	0.55%	0.67%
1997	0.52%	0.66%
1998	0.5%	0.64%
1999	0.47%	0.63%
2000	0.45%	0.62%
2001	0.43%	0.61%
2002	0.41%	0.59%
2003	0.4%	0.57%
2004	0.39%	0.55%
2005	0.37%	0.53%
2006	0.36%	0.51%
2007	0.35%	0.49%
2008	0.34%	0.47%
2009	0.34%	0.46%
2010	0.33%	0.44%
2011	0.33%	0.43%
2012	0.31%	0.42%
2013	0.3%	0.42%
2014	0.29%	0.41%
2015	0.28%	0.41%
2016	0.27%	0.41%
2017	0.26%	0.4%
2018	0.25%	0.4%
2019	0.25%	0.4%
2020	0.24%	0.4%
2021	0.24%	0.4%
2022	0.24%	0.4%
2023	0.24%	0.4%