Fertility & birth rates in Japan and South Africa

Fertility rate in Japan vs South Africa 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 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Japan 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
	Japan	South Africa
1960	2	6.11
1961	1.96	6.08
1962	1.98	6.05
1963	2	6.01
1964	2.05	5.96
1965	2.14	5.89
1966	1.58	5.91
1967	2.23	5.85
1968	2.13	5.78
1969	2.13	5.72
1970	2.13	5.63
1971	2.16	5.57
1972	2.14	5.49
1973	2.14	5.41
1974	2.05	5.3
1975	1.91	5.19
1976	1.85	5.07
1977	1.8	4.94
1978	1.79	4.85
1979	1.77	4.82
1980	1.75	4.78
1981	1.74	4.71
1982	1.77	4.7
1983	1.8	4.63
1984	1.81	4.57
1985	1.76	4.5
1986	1.72	4.41
1987	1.69	4.35
1988	1.66	4.18
1989	1.57	3.98
1990	1.54	3.72
1991	1.53	3.62
1992	1.5	3.48
1993	1.46	3.37
1994	1.5	3.26
1995	1.42	3.17
1996	1.43	2.99
1997	1.39	2.73
1998	1.38	2.63
1999	1.34	2.56
2000	1.36	2.41
2001	1.33	2.37
2002	1.32	2.32
2003	1.29	2.36
2004	1.29	2.44
2005	1.26	2.51
2006	1.32	2.55
2007	1.34	2.55
2008	1.37	2.68
2009	1.37	2.5
2010	1.39	2.44
2011	1.39	2.44
2012	1.41	2.45
2013	1.43	2.43
2014	1.42	2.42
2015	1.45	2.36
2016	1.44	2.26
2017	1.43	2.28
2018	1.42	2.27
2019	1.36	2.26
2020	1.33	2.26
2021	1.3	2.25
2022	1.26	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	1.25	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	1.3	1.98
2041	1.31	1.98
2042	1.31	1.97
2043	1.31	1.96
2044	1.32	1.95
2045	1.32	1.94
2046	1.33	1.93
2047	1.33	1.92
2048	1.33	1.91
2049	1.34	1.9
2050	1.34	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Japan	South Africa
1960	29.8%	42.1%
1961	29.1%	42.1%
1962	28%	42.1%
1963	26.8%	42.1%
1964	25.8%	42.1%
1965	25.1%	42.1%
1966	24.4%	42.1%
1967	23.8%	42.2%
1968	23.5%	42.2%
1969	23.4%	42.2%
1970	23.3%	42.3%
1971	23.3%	42.2%
1972	23.4%	42.2%
1973	23.6%	42.1%
1974	23.8%	42%
1975	23.8%	41.9%
1976	23.9%	41.8%
1977	23.9%	41.7%
1978	23.8%	41.5%
1979	23.7%	41.3%
1980	23.4%	40.9%
1981	23.3%	40.5%
1982	23.1%	40.1%
1983	22.6%	39.8%
1984	22.2%	39.5%
1985	21.7%	39.2%
1986	21%	38.9%
1987	20.3%	38.7%
1988	19.5%	38.4%
1989	18.8%	38.1%
1990	18%	37.7%
1991	17.4%	37.5%
1992	16.9%	37.6%
1993	16.4%	37.3%
1994	16%	37.2%
1995	15.6%	37.5%
1996	15.3%	37.5%
1997	15.1%	37.2%
1998	14.8%	36.5%
1999	14.6%	35.7%
2000	14.4%	34.9%
2001	14.2%	34%
2002	14.1%	33.2%
2003	13.9%	32.3%
2004	13.8%	31.6%
2005	13.8%	31.1%
2006	13.7%	30.6%
2007	13.6%	30.2%
2008	13.5%	29.9%
2009	13.5%	29.7%
2010	13.4%	29.4%
2011	13.3%	29.1%
2012	13.2%	28.9%
2013	13.1%	28.7%
2014	13%	28.5%
2015	12.8%	28.3%
2016	12.7%	28.3%
2017	12.6%	28.3%
2018	12.5%	27.9%
2019	12.4%	27.4%
2020	12.2%	27%
2021	12%	26.6%
2022	11.9%	26.3%
2023	11.6%	26.1%
2024	11.4%	25.9%
2025	11.2%	25.7%
2026	11%	25.6%
2027	10.9%	25.4%
2028	10.7%	25.3%
2029	10.5%	25.2%
2030	10.4%	25.2%
2031	10.3%	25.1%
2032	10.2%	25%
2033	10.1%	24.8%
2034	10.1%	24.5%
2035	10.1%	24.3%
2036	10.1%	23.9%
2037	10.1%	23.6%
2038	10.2%	23.4%
2039	10.3%	23.1%
2040	10.4%	22.9%
2041	10.5%	22.7%
2042	10.6%	22.5%
2043	10.7%	22.4%
2044	10.8%	22.2%
2045	10.9%	22.1%
2046	11%	21.9%
2047	11.1%	21.8%
2048	11.2%	21.7%
2049	11.2%	21.6%
2050	11.2%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.4% of the population in Japan and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 18% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Japan and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Japan vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.41% in Japan 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
	Japan	South Africa
1960	894,874	421,263
1961	893,522	437,851
1962	901,864	455,634
1963	987,770	473,821
1964	1,046,553	490,606
1965	1,126,448	506,632
1966	682,072	534,862
1967	1,258,475	553,741
1968	1,191,930	571,841
1969	1,195,962	590,794
1970	1,230,496	605,102
1971	1,331,782	624,761
1972	1,372,006	638,754
1973	1,391,449	651,596
1974	1,332,960	658,438
1975	1,204,989	667,862
1976	1,127,750	675,011
1977	1,070,397	680,929
1978	1,011,234	694,341
1979	950,298	716,541
1980	864,372	738,415
1981	811,861	767,833
1982	805,664	807,550
1983	775,495	837,013
1984	756,523	869,011
1985	676,687	893,889
1986	631,706	903,644
1987	598,138	922,330
1988	527,085	909,221
1989	467,662	884,629
1990	407,478	835,421
1991	396,685	827,296
1992	360,833	794,415
1993	312,073	789,220
1994	363,017	698,609
1995	276,039	743,488
1996	314,392	710,868
1997	277,325	667,969
1998	265,440	627,027
1999	202,610	594,643
2000	228,317	526,963
2001	203,438	484,801
2002	178,423	430,926
2003	114,946	415,018
2004	76,656	442,540
2005	-25,554	464,464
2006	12,785	487,584
2007	-25,600	503,567
2008	-51,225	595,332
2009	-76,828	554,115
2010	-128,070	566,834
2011	-204,533	601,708
2012	-229,733	643,723
2013	-242,146	652,427
2014	-267,279	674,754
2015	-292,424	668,771
2016	-343,106	641,365
2017	-406,310	645,975
2018	-456,520	648,319
2019	-531,858	652,130
2020	-542,923	595,873
2021	-640,976	456,411
2022	-825,825	603,636
2023	-871,617	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Japan vs South Africa

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 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Japan	South Africa
1985	19	208
1986	18	200
1987	17	192
1988	16	184
1989	15	177
1990	14	170
1991	13	162
1992	13	152
1993	12	145
1994	11	133
1995	11	125
1996	11	150
1997	10	152
1998	10	152
1999	9	151
2000	9	175
2001	8	192
2002	8	225
2003	8	245
2004	7	259
2005	7	279
2006	7	283
2007	6	272
2008	6	272
2009	6	241
2010	6	226
2011	6	202
2012	6	194
2013	5	180
2014	5	162
2015	5	150
2016	5	141
2017	5	134
2018	5	128
2019	5	119
2020	4	118
2021	4	191
2022	5	129
2023	3	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.24% in Japan 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
	Japan	South Africa
1960	3.97%	-
1961	3.62%	-
1962	3.29%	-
1963	2.98%	-
1964	2.7%	-
1965	2.46%	-
1966	2.26%	-
1967	2.1%	-
1968	1.96%	-
1969	1.85%	-
1970	1.75%	-
1971	1.65%	-
1972	1.57%	-
1973	1.49%	-
1974	1.41%	13.2%
1975	1.33%	12.5%
1976	1.25%	11.8%
1977	1.18%	11.1%
1978	1.11%	10.5%
1979	1.05%	9.88%
1980	0.99%	9.35%
1981	0.93%	8.84%
1982	0.88%	8.39%
1983	0.83%	7.98%
1984	0.79%	7.6%
1985	0.75%	7.24%
1986	0.71%	6.89%
1987	0.68%	6.56%
1988	0.66%	6.26%
1989	0.64%	6.01%
1990	0.63%	5.82%
1991	0.62%	5.7%
1992	0.61%	5.66%
1993	0.6%	5.7%
1994	0.59%	5.82%
1995	0.57%	5.95%
1996	0.55%	6.11%
1997	0.52%	6.29%
1998	0.5%	6.56%
1999	0.47%	6.85%
2000	0.45%	7.11%
2001	0.43%	7.43%
2002	0.41%	7.69%
2003	0.4%	7.93%
2004	0.39%	8.1%
2005	0.37%	8.03%
2006	0.36%	7.75%
2007	0.35%	7.19%
2008	0.34%	6.42%
2009	0.34%	5.7%
2010	0.33%	5%
2011	0.33%	4.5%
2012	0.31%	4.25%
2013	0.3%	4.1%
2014	0.29%	3.96%
2015	0.28%	3.82%
2016	0.27%	3.68%
2017	0.26%	3.58%
2018	0.25%	3.49%
2019	0.25%	3.45%
2020	0.24%	3.41%
2021	0.24%	3.41%
2022	0.24%	3.44%
2023	0.24%	3.47%