Fertility & birth rates in Japan and North Korea

Fertility rate in Japan vs North Korea 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 1.78 in North Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Japan vs North 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
	Japan	North Korea
1960	2	3.57
1961	1.96	3.26
1962	1.98	3.41
1963	2	3.63
1964	2.05	3.55
1965	2.14	3.56
1966	1.58	3.71
1967	2.23	4.05
1968	2.13	3.87
1969	2.13	3.86
1970	2.13	3.85
1971	2.16	3.74
1972	2.14	3.89
1973	2.14	3.35
1974	2.05	3.14
1975	1.91	3.05
1976	1.85	2.84
1977	1.8	2.77
1978	1.79	2.79
1979	1.77	2.85
1980	1.75	2.84
1981	1.74	2.92
1982	1.77	2.85
1983	1.8	2.78
1984	1.81	2.71
1985	1.76	2.65
1986	1.72	2.59
1987	1.69	2.53
1988	1.66	2.47
1989	1.57	2.41
1990	1.54	2.39
1991	1.53	2.35
1992	1.5	2.29
1993	1.46	2.22
1994	1.5	2.18
1995	1.42	2.15
1996	1.43	2.09
1997	1.39	2.03
1998	1.38	1.99
1999	1.34	1.97
2000	1.36	1.94
2001	1.33	1.94
2002	1.32	1.92
2003	1.29	1.91
2004	1.29	1.9
2005	1.26	1.87
2006	1.32	1.94
2007	1.34	1.94
2008	1.37	1.97
2009	1.37	1.91
2010	1.39	1.89
2011	1.39	1.88
2012	1.41	1.88
2013	1.43	1.88
2014	1.42	1.87
2015	1.45	1.86
2016	1.44	1.86
2017	1.43	1.85
2018	1.42	1.83
2019	1.36	1.83
2020	1.33	1.82
2021	1.3	1.81
2022	1.26	1.8
2023	1.2	1.78
2024	1.21	1.78
2025	1.22	1.77
2026	1.22	1.75
2027	1.23	1.74
2028	1.24	1.73
2029	1.25	1.73
2030	1.25	1.72
2031	1.26	1.72
2032	1.26	1.71
2033	1.27	1.71
2034	1.28	1.71
2035	1.28	1.7
2036	1.29	1.7
2037	1.29	1.7
2038	1.3	1.69
2039	1.3	1.69
2040	1.3	1.69
2041	1.31	1.69
2042	1.31	1.69
2043	1.31	1.69
2044	1.32	1.68
2045	1.32	1.68
2046	1.33	1.68
2047	1.33	1.68
2048	1.33	1.67
2049	1.34	1.67
2050	1.34	1.67

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Japan	North Korea
1960	29.8%	37.5%
1961	29.1%	37%
1962	28%	36.6%
1963	26.8%	36.5%
1964	25.8%	36.6%
1965	25.1%	36.7%
1966	24.4%	37.3%
1967	23.8%	38.3%
1968	23.5%	39.2%
1969	23.4%	39.8%
1970	23.3%	40.1%
1971	23.3%	40.3%
1972	23.4%	40.2%
1973	23.6%	39.8%
1974	23.8%	39.3%
1975	23.8%	38.8%
1976	23.9%	38.3%
1977	23.9%	37.7%
1978	23.8%	36.9%
1979	23.7%	36%
1980	23.4%	35.1%
1981	23.3%	34.2%
1982	23.1%	33.1%
1983	22.6%	32%
1984	22.2%	30.9%
1985	21.7%	29.9%
1986	21%	29%
1987	20.3%	28%
1988	19.5%	27.3%
1989	18.8%	26.8%
1990	18%	26.5%
1991	17.4%	26.4%
1992	16.9%	26.3%
1993	16.4%	26.4%
1994	16%	26.4%
1995	15.6%	26.4%
1996	15.3%	26.3%
1997	15.1%	26.2%
1998	14.8%	26%
1999	14.6%	25.8%
2000	14.4%	25.6%
2001	14.2%	25.3%
2002	14.1%	25%
2003	13.9%	24.6%
2004	13.8%	24.3%
2005	13.8%	23.9%
2006	13.7%	23.4%
2007	13.6%	23%
2008	13.5%	22.5%
2009	13.5%	22.1%
2010	13.4%	21.6%
2011	13.3%	21.2%
2012	13.2%	20.8%
2013	13.1%	20.4%
2014	13%	20.1%
2015	12.8%	19.8%
2016	12.7%	19.6%
2017	12.6%	19.4%
2018	12.5%	19.2%
2019	12.4%	19.1%
2020	12.2%	19.1%
2021	12%	19.1%
2022	11.9%	19%
2023	11.6%	19%
2024	11.4%	18.9%
2025	11.2%	18.9%
2026	11%	18.9%
2027	10.9%	18.8%
2028	10.7%	18.7%
2029	10.5%	18.6%
2030	10.4%	18.5%
2031	10.3%	18.3%
2032	10.2%	18.1%
2033	10.1%	17.9%
2034	10.1%	17.6%
2035	10.1%	17.4%
2036	10.1%	17.1%
2037	10.1%	16.8%
2038	10.2%	16.6%
2039	10.3%	16.3%
2040	10.4%	16.1%
2041	10.5%	15.9%
2042	10.6%	15.7%
2043	10.7%	15.5%
2044	10.8%	15.4%
2045	10.9%	15.3%
2046	11%	15.2%
2047	11.1%	15.2%
2048	11.2%	15.2%
2049	11.2%	15.2%
2050	11.2%	15.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.4% of the population in Japan and 18.9% in North Korea in 2024, compared to 18% and 26.5% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Japan and North Korea compared.

Natural population change in Japan vs North Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.41% in Japan and +0.42% in North 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
	Japan	North Korea
1960	894,874	277,717
1961	893,522	257,788
1962	901,864	286,534
1963	987,770	321,805
1964	1,046,553	323,623
1965	1,126,448	335,587
1966	682,072	363,882
1967	1,258,475	414,632
1968	1,191,930	399,837
1969	1,195,962	404,189
1970	1,230,496	406,129
1971	1,331,782	393,220
1972	1,372,006	411,997
1973	1,391,449	338,600
1974	1,332,960	306,902
1975	1,204,989	288,966
1976	1,127,750	255,841
1977	1,070,397	242,870
1978	1,011,234	243,533
1979	950,298	251,409
1980	864,372	255,206
1981	811,861	273,800
1982	805,664	276,332
1983	775,495	279,046
1984	756,523	282,987
1985	676,687	287,714
1986	631,706	293,227
1987	598,138	296,030
1988	527,085	299,305
1989	467,662	303,078
1990	407,478	312,460
1991	396,685	320,551
1992	360,833	324,002
1993	312,073	320,880
1994	363,017	320,861
1995	276,039	233,381
1996	314,392	226,095
1997	277,325	211,325
1998	265,440	197,589
1999	202,610	181,613
2000	228,317	161,591
2001	203,438	143,321
2002	178,423	119,504
2003	114,946	178,775
2004	76,656	155,838
2005	-25,554	132,765
2006	12,785	129,171
2007	-25,600	120,521
2008	-51,225	122,015
2009	-76,828	111,530
2010	-128,070	112,443
2011	-204,533	114,798
2012	-229,733	118,773
2013	-242,146	122,519
2014	-267,279	127,078
2015	-292,424	127,365
2016	-343,106	125,048
2017	-406,310	120,181
2018	-456,520	113,164
2019	-531,858	106,208
2020	-542,923	95,920
2021	-640,976	99,710
2022	-825,825	96,495
2023	-871,617	86,203

Maternal mortality chart: Japan vs North Korea

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 67 deaths in North Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Japan	North Korea
1985	19	76
1986	18	68
1987	17	62
1988	16	55
1989	15	49
1990	14	43
1991	13	38
1992	13	37
1993	12	46
1994	11	57
1995	11	127
1996	11	128
1997	10	128
1998	10	129
1999	9	129
2000	9	129
2001	8	130
2002	8	131
2003	8	76
2004	7	77
2005	7	78
2006	7	80
2007	6	80
2008	6	79
2009	6	78
2010	6	77
2011	6	76
2012	6	76
2013	5	75
2014	5	73
2015	5	72
2016	5	71
2017	5	70
2018	5	69
2019	5	66
2020	4	66
2021	4	72
2022	5	67
2023	3	67

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.24% in Japan and 1.8% in North 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
	Japan	North Korea
1960	3.97%	11.6%
1961	3.62%	11.2%
1962	3.29%	10.8%
1963	2.98%	10.4%
1964	2.7%	9.92%
1965	2.46%	9.46%
1966	2.26%	8.96%
1967	2.1%	8.45%
1968	1.96%	7.94%
1969	1.85%	7.45%
1970	1.75%	6.99%
1971	1.65%	6.58%
1972	1.57%	6.2%
1973	1.49%	5.86%
1974	1.41%	5.56%
1975	1.33%	5.28%
1976	1.25%	5.03%
1977	1.18%	4.8%
1978	1.11%	4.59%
1979	1.05%	4.4%
1980	0.99%	4.22%
1981	0.93%	4.05%
1982	0.88%	3.91%
1983	0.83%	3.8%
1984	0.79%	3.71%
1985	0.75%	3.68%
1986	0.71%	3.68%
1987	0.68%	3.78%
1988	0.66%	3.83%
1989	0.64%	3.95%
1990	0.63%	4.07%
1991	0.62%	4.18%
1992	0.61%	4.25%
1993	0.6%	4.27%
1994	0.59%	4.25%
1995	0.57%	10.8%
1996	0.55%	10.6%
1997	0.52%	10.5%
1998	0.5%	10.3%
1999	0.47%	10.2%
2000	0.45%	10%
2001	0.43%	9.9%
2002	0.41%	9.78%
2003	0.4%	3.45%
2004	0.39%	3.38%
2005	0.37%	3.33%
2006	0.36%	3.28%
2007	0.35%	3.24%
2008	0.34%	3.1%
2009	0.34%	3%
2010	0.33%	2.87%
2011	0.33%	2.72%
2012	0.31%	2.57%
2013	0.3%	2.41%
2014	0.29%	2.26%
2015	0.28%	2.14%
2016	0.27%	2.06%
2017	0.26%	1.91%
2018	0.25%	1.84%
2019	0.25%	1.77%
2020	0.24%	1.74%
2021	0.24%	1.74%
2022	0.24%	1.77%
2023	0.24%	1.8%