Fertility & birth rates in Lesotho and Mozambique

Fertility rate in Lesotho vs Mozambique chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Lesotho was 2.69 children per woman in 2023, compared to 4.76 in Mozambique in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Lesotho vs Mozambique population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Lesotho	Mozambique
1960	5.78	6.31
1961	5.79	6.37
1962	5.79	6.42
1963	5.78	6.47
1964	5.77	6.51
1965	5.77	6.54
1966	5.76	6.58
1967	5.75	6.61
1968	5.73	6.65
1969	5.7	6.67
1970	5.7	6.7
1971	5.7	6.7
1972	5.69	6.7
1973	5.69	6.7
1974	5.75	6.67
1975	5.83	6.66
1976	5.87	6.64
1977	5.85	6.62
1978	5.82	6.59
1979	5.79	6.56
1980	5.75	6.53
1981	5.69	6.48
1982	5.63	6.43
1983	5.56	6.43
1984	5.48	6.44
1985	5.4	6.43
1986	5.32	6.41
1987	5.22	6.39
1988	5.1	6.37
1989	4.96	6.35
1990	4.81	6.32
1991	4.68	6.28
1992	4.54	6.22
1993	4.37	6.15
1994	4.21	6.08
1995	4.13	6.02
1996	4.06	5.97
1997	3.98	5.93
1998	3.82	5.91
1999	3.67	5.88
2000	3.61	5.83
2001	3.63	5.76
2002	3.68	5.67
2003	3.62	5.6
2004	3.51	5.55
2005	3.43	5.5
2006	3.41	5.45
2007	3.44	5.47
2008	3.39	5.6
2009	3.31	5.68
2010	3.25	5.66
2011	3.34	5.6
2012	3.3	5.52
2013	3.28	5.43
2014	3.24	5.3
2015	3.22	5.25
2016	3.18	5.19
2017	3.11	5.13
2018	3.02	5.07
2019	2.92	5.02
2020	2.85	4.96
2021	2.77	4.91
2022	2.72	4.84
2023	2.69	4.76
2024	2.66	4.69
2025	2.64	4.62
2026	2.61	4.54
2027	2.58	4.46
2028	2.55	4.39
2029	2.53	4.3
2030	2.5	4.23
2031	2.47	4.14
2032	2.45	4.06
2033	2.43	3.97
2034	2.41	3.89
2035	2.38	3.82
2036	2.37	3.75
2037	2.34	3.67
2038	2.32	3.6
2039	2.3	3.53
2040	2.29	3.47
2041	2.27	3.4
2042	2.25	3.34
2043	2.24	3.28
2044	2.22	3.22
2045	2.21	3.16
2046	2.19	3.11
2047	2.18	3.06
2048	2.17	3.01
2049	2.16	2.97
2050	2.14	2.92

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Lesotho	Mozambique
1960	45.1%	41%
1961	45.2%	41.2%
1962	45.3%	41.4%
1963	45.2%	41.6%
1964	44.9%	41.9%
1965	44.8%	42.2%
1966	44.9%	42.5%
1967	44.8%	42.7%
1968	44.4%	42.9%
1969	44%	43.1%
1970	43.6%	43.3%
1971	43.1%	43.4%
1972	42.7%	43.6%
1973	42.3%	43.7%
1974	41.9%	43.8%
1975	41.6%	44%
1976	41.4%	44.1%
1977	41.5%	44.3%
1978	41.7%	44.6%
1979	41.9%	44.9%
1980	42.1%	45.3%
1981	42.3%	45.6%
1982	42.5%	45.7%
1983	42.7%	45.8%
1984	42.8%	45.9%
1985	43%	45.9%
1986	42.7%	45.9%
1987	42.5%	45.9%
1988	42.7%	45.8%
1989	42.8%	45.7%
1990	42.9%	45.7%
1991	42.9%	45.6%
1992	42.8%	45.5%
1993	42.6%	45.4%
1994	42.3%	45.2%
1995	42%	45%
1996	41.7%	44.9%
1997	41.2%	44.8%
1998	40.7%	44.9%
1999	40.2%	45%
2000	39.6%	45.1%
2001	39.1%	45.1%
2002	38.6%	45.2%
2003	38.1%	45.3%
2004	37.7%	45.3%
2005	37.4%	45.3%
2006	37.1%	45.4%
2007	36.8%	45.4%
2008	36.7%	45.5%
2009	36.6%	45.6%
2010	36.5%	45.8%
2011	36.5%	45.8%
2012	36.5%	45.9%
2013	36.5%	45.8%
2014	36.6%	45.8%
2015	36.6%	45.7%
2016	36.6%	45.6%
2017	36.5%	45.5%
2018	36.3%	45.4%
2019	36.1%	45.3%
2020	35.8%	45.2%
2021	35.6%	45.1%
2022	35.3%	45%
2023	34.9%	44.8%
2024	34.5%	44.5%
2025	34.1%	44.2%
2026	33.6%	43.9%
2027	33.1%	43.5%
2028	32.6%	43.2%
2029	32%	42.9%
2030	31.5%	42.5%
2031	31%	42.2%
2032	30.5%	41.9%
2033	30.1%	41.5%
2034	29.7%	41.1%
2035	29.3%	40.7%
2036	29%	40.3%
2037	28.8%	39.9%
2038	28.5%	39.5%
2039	28.3%	39%
2040	28.1%	38.6%
2041	27.8%	38.2%
2042	27.6%	37.7%
2043	27.4%	37.3%
2044	27.1%	36.9%
2045	26.9%	36.4%
2046	26.7%	36%
2047	26.4%	35.6%
2048	26.2%	35.2%
2049	25.9%	34.8%
2050	25.7%	34.4%

Children aged 0-14 make up 34.5% of the population in Lesotho and 44.5% in Mozambique in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 45.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Lesotho and Mozambique compared.

Natural population change in Lesotho vs Mozambique by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.44% in Lesotho and +3.08% in Mozambique. 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
	Lesotho	Mozambique
1960	19,981	165,774
1961	20,581	171,236
1962	21,132	176,297
1963	21,585	180,867
1964	22,116	182,334
1965	22,755	185,931
1966	23,326	189,218
1967	23,911	193,044
1968	24,490	197,623
1969	25,137	202,174
1970	25,935	207,385
1971	26,838	211,137
1972	27,841	215,793
1973	28,859	226,847
1974	30,444	240,665
1975	32,311	257,984
1976	34,117	273,924
1977	35,654	289,193
1978	37,084	310,403
1979	38,440	331,162
1980	39,617	349,586
1981	40,808	322,207
1982	41,941	321,493
1983	42,899	324,158
1984	43,785	304,524
1985	44,575	307,625
1986	45,232	332,609
1987	47,718	334,438
1988	47,158	349,480
1989	46,264	348,833
1990	45,060	353,290
1991	44,026	357,676
1992	42,579	362,373
1993	40,505	369,518
1994	38,629	384,821
1995	37,370	421,630
1996	36,228	442,559
1997	34,637	461,209
1998	30,889	474,453
1999	27,393	491,814
2000	24,786	506,162
2001	23,190	519,594
2002	22,274	529,867
2003	20,133	540,992
2004	17,271	554,973
2005	15,831	570,132
2006	15,234	586,009
2007	17,763	610,913
2008	19,349	654,920
2009	20,335	693,673
2010	21,877	719,025
2011	25,647	741,303
2012	27,592	763,088
2013	29,789	784,641
2014	30,922	799,778
2015	32,087	824,435
2016	33,390	850,430
2017	33,601	876,594
2018	33,112	903,176
2019	32,279	927,581
2020	30,721	945,952
2021	27,806	951,234
2022	30,803	1,003,689
2023	31,115	1,025,334

Maternal mortality chart: Lesotho vs Mozambique

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 478 deaths per 100,000 live births in Lesotho, compared to 99 deaths in Mozambique.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Lesotho	Mozambique
1985	711	1,452
1986	680	1,355
1987	686	1,348
1988	680	1,259
1989	680	1,209
1990	665	1,150
1991	641	1,094
1992	601	1,046
1993	542	968
1994	423	902
1995	357	883
1996	319	819
1997	312	738
1998	332	694
1999	371	624
2000	413	547
2001	465	473
2002	484	398
2003	508	360
2004	499	321
2005	549	301
2006	696	298
2007	891	327
2008	1,205	365
2009	1,387	352
2010	1,311	305
2011	1,210	268
2012	1,000	218
2013	855	196
2014	707	210
2015	594	216
2016	518	202
2017	468	187
2018	491	159
2019	467	134
2020	529	123
2021	577	180
2022	477	104
2023	478	99

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 5.89% in Lesotho and 6.17% in Mozambique. 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
	Lesotho	Mozambique
1960	18.6%	-
1961	18.5%	-
1962	18.5%	-
1963	18.6%	26.5%
1964	18.6%	26.7%
1965	18.7%	26.8%
1966	18.6%	26.8%
1967	18.5%	26.9%
1968	18.3%	26.9%
1969	18%	26.9%
1970	17.7%	26.8%
1971	17.3%	26.7%
1972	16.9%	26.6%
1973	16.5%	26.4%
1974	16%	26.3%
1975	15.5%	26.1%
1976	14.9%	26%
1977	14.2%	25.8%
1978	13.6%	25.7%
1979	12.9%	25.7%
1980	12.3%	25.6%
1981	11.7%	25.6%
1982	11.1%	25.5%
1983	10.6%	25.3%
1984	10.1%	25.1%
1985	9.72%	24.8%
1986	9.36%	24.5%
1987	9.06%	24.2%
1988	8.8%	23.9%
1989	8.6%	23.6%
1990	8.47%	23.3%
1991	8.43%	23%
1992	8.51%	22.6%
1993	8.73%	22.1%
1994	9.07%	21.6%
1995	9.45%	20.9%
1996	9.83%	20.1%
1997	10.2%	19.2%
1998	10.5%	18.2%
1999	10.7%	17.2%
2000	10.9%	16.3%
2001	11.1%	15.4%
2002	11.2%	14.6%
2003	11.4%	13.9%
2004	11.5%	13.2%
2005	11.6%	12.5%
2006	11.5%	11.8%
2007	11.2%	11%
2008	10.9%	10.4%
2009	9.64%	9.75%
2010	9.01%	9.5%
2011	8.59%	9.05%
2012	8.26%	8.63%
2013	8.02%	8.26%
2014	7.82%	7.92%
2015	7.51%	7.51%
2016	7.18%	7.23%
2017	7.12%	7.09%
2018	6.91%	6.95%
2019	6.87%	6.83%
2020	6.68%	6.73%
2021	6.44%	6.58%
2022	6.15%	6.43%
2023	5.89%	6.17%