Fertility & birth rates in Lesotho and Papua New Guinea

Fertility rate in Lesotho vs Papua New Guinea 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 3.1 in Papua New Guinea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Lesotho vs Papua New Guinea 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	Papua New Guinea
1960	5.78	6.02
1961	5.79	6.07
1962	5.79	6.14
1963	5.78	6.15
1964	5.77	6.19
1965	5.77	6.2
1966	5.76	6.23
1967	5.75	6.24
1968	5.73	6.25
1969	5.7	6.26
1970	5.7	6.25
1971	5.7	6.23
1972	5.69	6.2
1973	5.69	6.16
1974	5.75	6.11
1975	5.83	6.07
1976	5.87	6.02
1977	5.85	5.96
1978	5.82	5.88
1979	5.79	5.79
1980	5.75	5.71
1981	5.69	5.65
1982	5.63	5.59
1983	5.56	5.56
1984	5.48	5.51
1985	5.4	5.47
1986	5.32	5.42
1987	5.22	5.36
1988	5.1	5.3
1989	4.96	5.24
1990	4.81	5.18
1991	4.68	5.11
1992	4.54	5.03
1993	4.37	4.96
1994	4.21	4.87
1995	4.13	4.78
1996	4.06	4.73
1997	3.98	4.68
1998	3.82	4.63
1999	3.67	4.59
2000	3.61	4.53
2001	3.63	4.47
2002	3.68	4.42
2003	3.62	4.36
2004	3.51	4.28
2005	3.43	4.22
2006	3.41	4.15
2007	3.44	4.08
2008	3.39	4.01
2009	3.31	3.94
2010	3.25	3.88
2011	3.34	3.82
2012	3.3	3.75
2013	3.28	3.68
2014	3.24	3.63
2015	3.22	3.56
2016	3.18	3.5
2017	3.11	3.43
2018	3.02	3.38
2019	2.92	3.32
2020	2.85	3.27
2021	2.77	3.22
2022	2.72	3.17
2023	2.69	3.1
2024	2.66	3.07
2025	2.64	3.03
2026	2.61	2.99
2027	2.58	2.95
2028	2.55	2.92
2029	2.53	2.88
2030	2.5	2.84
2031	2.47	2.81
2032	2.45	2.78
2033	2.43	2.75
2034	2.41	2.73
2035	2.38	2.69
2036	2.37	2.67
2037	2.34	2.64
2038	2.32	2.61
2039	2.3	2.59
2040	2.29	2.56
2041	2.27	2.54
2042	2.25	2.51
2043	2.24	2.49
2044	2.22	2.48
2045	2.21	2.46
2046	2.19	2.44
2047	2.18	2.42
2048	2.17	2.4
2049	2.16	2.38
2050	2.14	2.36

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Lesotho	Papua New Guinea
1960	45.1%	43.4%
1961	45.2%	43.7%
1962	45.3%	43.9%
1963	45.2%	44.2%
1964	44.9%	44.4%
1965	44.8%	44.6%
1966	44.9%	44.9%
1967	44.8%	45.1%
1968	44.4%	45.3%
1969	44%	45.6%
1970	43.6%	45.8%
1971	43.1%	46%
1972	42.7%	46%
1973	42.3%	45.9%
1974	41.9%	45.8%
1975	41.6%	45.5%
1976	41.4%	45.2%
1977	41.5%	44.9%
1978	41.7%	44.4%
1979	41.9%	44%
1980	42.1%	43.5%
1981	42.3%	43.2%
1982	42.5%	43%
1983	42.7%	42.9%
1984	42.8%	42.8%
1985	43%	42.6%
1986	42.7%	42.5%
1987	42.5%	42.4%
1988	42.7%	42.4%
1989	42.8%	42.3%
1990	42.9%	42.1%
1991	42.9%	41.9%
1992	42.8%	41.7%
1993	42.6%	41.5%
1994	42.3%	41.2%
1995	42%	41%
1996	41.7%	40.8%
1997	41.2%	40.6%
1998	40.7%	40.4%
1999	40.2%	40.2%
2000	39.6%	40%
2001	39.1%	39.8%
2002	38.6%	39.5%
2003	38.1%	39.3%
2004	37.7%	39%
2005	37.4%	38.8%
2006	37.1%	38.5%
2007	36.8%	38.3%
2008	36.7%	38%
2009	36.6%	37.7%
2010	36.5%	37.5%
2011	36.5%	37.2%
2012	36.5%	37%
2013	36.5%	36.7%
2014	36.6%	36.5%
2015	36.6%	36.2%
2016	36.6%	35.9%
2017	36.5%	35.6%
2018	36.3%	35.3%
2019	36.1%	35%
2020	35.8%	34.7%
2021	35.6%	34.4%
2022	35.3%	34.1%
2023	34.9%	33.8%
2024	34.5%	33.5%
2025	34.1%	33.1%
2026	33.6%	32.8%
2027	33.1%	32.5%
2028	32.6%	32.1%
2029	32%	31.8%
2030	31.5%	31.4%
2031	31%	31.1%
2032	30.5%	30.7%
2033	30.1%	30.4%
2034	29.7%	30.1%
2035	29.3%	29.7%
2036	29%	29.4%
2037	28.8%	29.1%
2038	28.5%	28.8%
2039	28.3%	28.5%
2040	28.1%	28.3%
2041	27.8%	28%
2042	27.6%	27.8%
2043	27.4%	27.5%
2044	27.1%	27.3%
2045	26.9%	27.1%
2046	26.7%	26.9%
2047	26.4%	26.7%
2048	26.2%	26.5%
2049	25.9%	26.3%
2050	25.7%	26.1%

Children aged 0-14 make up 34.5% of the population in Lesotho and 33.5% in Papua New Guinea in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 42.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Lesotho and Papua New Guinea compared.

Natural population change in Lesotho vs Papua New Guinea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.44% in Lesotho and +2% in Papua New Guinea. 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	Papua New Guinea
1960	19,981	56,326
1961	20,581	58,151
1962	21,132	59,974
1963	21,585	62,260
1964	22,116	64,558
1965	22,755	66,693
1966	23,326	69,206
1967	23,911	71,519
1968	24,490	73,983
1969	25,137	76,454
1970	25,935	78,712
1971	26,838	80,599
1972	27,841	82,672
1973	28,859	83,821
1974	30,444	84,829
1975	32,311	85,809
1976	34,117	86,965
1977	35,654	87,954
1978	37,084	88,747
1979	38,440	89,330
1980	39,617	90,266
1981	40,808	91,767
1982	41,941	93,522
1983	42,899	95,982
1984	43,785	98,103
1985	44,575	100,333
1986	45,232	102,346
1987	47,718	104,367
1988	47,158	106,256
1989	46,264	108,199
1990	45,060	110,033
1991	44,026	111,453
1992	42,579	114,818
1993	40,505	118,668
1994	38,629	122,113
1995	37,370	125,410
1996	36,228	129,802
1997	34,637	134,458
1998	30,889	136,677
1999	27,393	143,592
2000	24,786	147,496
2001	23,190	151,431
2002	22,274	155,091
2003	20,133	158,611
2004	17,271	161,023
2005	15,831	163,888
2006	15,234	166,540
2007	17,763	169,306
2008	19,349	172,823
2009	20,335	175,421
2010	21,877	178,998
2011	25,647	181,842
2012	27,592	183,658
2013	29,789	185,790
2014	30,922	187,592
2015	32,087	188,600
2016	33,390	189,281
2017	33,601	189,715
2018	33,112	190,662
2019	32,279	190,662
2020	30,721	189,130
2021	27,806	183,766
2022	30,803	186,861
2023	31,115	187,637

Maternal mortality chart: Lesotho vs Papua New Guinea

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 189 deaths in Papua New Guinea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Lesotho	Papua New Guinea
1985	711	393
1986	680	386
1987	686	379
1988	680	377
1989	680	369
1990	665	360
1991	641	354
1992	601	340
1993	542	333
1994	423	324
1995	357	318
1996	319	316
1997	312	316
1998	332	325
1999	371	321
2000	413	323
2001	465	325
2002	484	329
2003	508	328
2004	499	326
2005	549	326
2006	696	325
2007	891	326
2008	1,205	315
2009	1,387	302
2010	1,311	289
2011	1,210	271
2012	1,000	257
2013	855	243
2014	707	232
2015	594	221
2016	518	214
2017	468	207
2018	491	205
2019	467	199
2020	529	194
2021	577	223
2022	477	189
2023	478	189

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 5.89% in Lesotho and 4.03% in Papua New Guinea. 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	Papua New Guinea
1960	18.6%	19.8%
1961	18.5%	19.2%
1962	18.5%	18.6%
1963	18.6%	18%
1964	18.6%	17.4%
1965	18.7%	16.9%
1966	18.6%	16.3%
1967	18.5%	15.8%
1968	18.3%	15.2%
1969	18%	14.7%
1970	17.7%	14.2%
1971	17.3%	13.7%
1972	16.9%	13.3%
1973	16.5%	12.9%
1974	16%	12.4%
1975	15.5%	12.1%
1976	14.9%	11.7%
1977	14.2%	11.3%
1978	13.6%	11%
1979	12.9%	10.7%
1980	12.3%	10.4%
1981	11.7%	10.2%
1982	11.1%	9.94%
1983	10.6%	9.71%
1984	10.1%	9.5%
1985	9.72%	9.3%
1986	9.36%	9.12%
1987	9.06%	8.96%
1988	8.8%	8.78%
1989	8.6%	8.63%
1990	8.47%	8.47%
1991	8.43%	8.31%
1992	8.51%	8.17%
1993	8.73%	8.03%
1994	9.07%	7.89%
1995	9.45%	7.77%
1996	9.83%	7.64%
1997	10.2%	7.52%
1998	10.5%	7.41%
1999	10.7%	7.3%
2000	10.9%	7.19%
2001	11.1%	7.08%
2002	11.2%	6.96%
2003	11.4%	6.84%
2004	11.5%	6.71%
2005	11.6%	6.58%
2006	11.5%	6.44%
2007	11.2%	6.31%
2008	10.9%	6.16%
2009	9.64%	6.02%
2010	9.01%	5.88%
2011	8.59%	5.73%
2012	8.26%	5.59%
2013	8.02%	5.44%
2014	7.82%	5.3%
2015	7.51%	5.17%
2016	7.18%	5.02%
2017	7.12%	4.87%
2018	6.91%	4.72%
2019	6.87%	4.59%
2020	6.68%	4.45%
2021	6.44%	4.31%
2022	6.15%	4.17%
2023	5.89%	4.03%