Fertility & birth rates in Lesotho and South Korea

Fertility rate in Lesotho vs South Korea 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 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Lesotho vs South 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
	Lesotho	South Korea
1960	5.78	5.99
1961	5.79	5.8
1962	5.79	5.56
1963	5.78	5.33
1964	5.77	5.07
1965	5.77	4.89
1966	5.76	4.78
1967	5.75	4.62
1968	5.73	4.51
1969	5.7	4.45
1970	5.7	4.53
1971	5.7	4.54
1972	5.69	4.12
1973	5.69	4.07
1974	5.75	3.77
1975	5.83	3.43
1976	5.87	3
1977	5.85	2.99
1978	5.82	2.64
1979	5.79	2.9
1980	5.75	2.82
1981	5.69	2.57
1982	5.63	2.39
1983	5.56	2.06
1984	5.48	1.74
1985	5.4	1.66
1986	5.32	1.58
1987	5.22	1.53
1988	5.1	1.55
1989	4.96	1.56
1990	4.81	1.57
1991	4.68	1.71
1992	4.54	1.76
1993	4.37	1.65
1994	4.21	1.66
1995	4.13	1.63
1996	4.06	1.57
1997	3.98	1.54
1998	3.82	1.46
1999	3.67	1.43
2000	3.61	1.48
2001	3.63	1.31
2002	3.68	1.18
2003	3.62	1.19
2004	3.51	1.16
2005	3.43	1.09
2006	3.41	1.13
2007	3.44	1.26
2008	3.39	1.19
2009	3.31	1.15
2010	3.25	1.23
2011	3.34	1.24
2012	3.3	1.3
2013	3.28	1.19
2014	3.24	1.21
2015	3.22	1.24
2016	3.18	1.17
2017	3.11	1.05
2018	3.02	0.98
2019	2.92	0.92
2020	2.85	0.84
2021	2.77	0.81
2022	2.72	0.78
2023	2.69	0.72
2024	2.66	0.73
2025	2.64	0.75
2026	2.61	0.76
2027	2.58	0.78
2028	2.55	0.79
2029	2.53	0.8
2030	2.5	0.82
2031	2.47	0.83
2032	2.45	0.84
2033	2.43	0.85
2034	2.41	0.86
2035	2.38	0.88
2036	2.37	0.89
2037	2.34	0.9
2038	2.32	0.91
2039	2.3	0.92
2040	2.29	0.93
2041	2.27	0.95
2042	2.25	0.96
2043	2.24	0.96
2044	2.22	0.97
2045	2.21	0.98
2046	2.19	0.99
2047	2.18	1
2048	2.17	1.01
2049	2.16	1.02
2050	2.14	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Lesotho	South Korea
1960	45.1%	41.3%
1961	45.2%	41.8%
1962	45.3%	42.3%
1963	45.2%	42.7%
1964	44.9%	43.1%
1965	44.8%	43.3%
1966	44.9%	43.5%
1967	44.8%	43.3%
1968	44.4%	43.1%
1969	44%	42.7%
1970	43.6%	42.1%
1971	43.1%	41.5%
1972	42.7%	41%
1973	42.3%	40.3%
1974	41.9%	39.5%
1975	41.6%	38.5%
1976	41.4%	37.5%
1977	41.5%	36.5%
1978	41.7%	35.6%
1979	41.9%	34.8%
1980	42.1%	34%
1981	42.3%	33.3%
1982	42.5%	32.7%
1983	42.7%	32%
1984	42.8%	31.2%
1985	43%	30.2%
1986	42.7%	29.2%
1987	42.5%	28.2%
1988	42.7%	27.3%
1989	42.8%	26.5%
1990	42.9%	25.8%
1991	42.9%	25.2%
1992	42.8%	24.7%
1993	42.6%	24.2%
1994	42.3%	23.7%
1995	42%	23.1%
1996	41.7%	22.5%
1997	41.2%	22%
1998	40.7%	21.6%
1999	40.2%	21.2%
2000	39.6%	21%
2001	39.1%	20.8%
2002	38.6%	20.5%
2003	38.1%	20.1%
2004	37.7%	19.7%
2005	37.4%	19.2%
2006	37.1%	18.7%
2007	36.8%	18.1%
2008	36.7%	17.5%
2009	36.6%	16.9%
2010	36.5%	16.4%
2011	36.5%	15.8%
2012	36.5%	15.2%
2013	36.5%	14.7%
2014	36.6%	14.2%
2015	36.6%	13.8%
2016	36.6%	13.4%
2017	36.5%	13%
2018	36.3%	12.7%
2019	36.1%	12.4%
2020	35.8%	12.1%
2021	35.6%	11.8%
2022	35.3%	11.4%
2023	34.9%	11%
2024	34.5%	10.6%
2025	34.1%	10.2%
2026	33.6%	9.82%
2027	33.1%	9.42%
2028	32.6%	9.06%
2029	32%	8.75%
2030	31.5%	8.43%
2031	31%	8.15%
2032	30.5%	7.94%
2033	30.1%	7.79%
2034	29.7%	7.7%
2035	29.3%	7.66%
2036	29%	7.65%
2037	28.8%	7.66%
2038	28.5%	7.68%
2039	28.3%	7.71%
2040	28.1%	7.73%
2041	27.8%	7.75%
2042	27.6%	7.76%
2043	27.4%	7.77%
2044	27.1%	7.78%
2045	26.9%	7.79%
2046	26.7%	7.8%
2047	26.4%	7.81%
2048	26.2%	7.82%
2049	25.9%	7.82%
2050	25.7%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 34.5% of the population in Lesotho and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Lesotho and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Lesotho vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.44% in Lesotho and +0.06% in South 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
	Lesotho	South Korea
1960	19,981	728,010
1961	20,581	730,173
1962	21,132	712,590
1963	21,585	685,824
1964	22,116	655,501
1965	22,755	641,090
1966	23,326	623,534
1967	23,911	692,169
1968	24,490	684,487
1969	25,137	694,227
1970	25,935	747,987
1971	26,838	789,185
1972	27,841	740,469
1973	28,859	699,115
1974	30,444	673,030
1975	32,311	603,300
1976	34,117	530,558
1977	35,654	578,947
1978	37,084	499,084
1979	38,440	623,068
1980	39,617	583,294
1981	40,808	631,189
1982	41,941	605,626
1983	42,899	514,844
1984	43,785	436,384
1985	44,575	416,219
1986	45,232	395,651
1987	47,718	378,758
1988	47,158	399,297
1989	46,264	403,266
1990	45,060	411,546
1991	44,026	467,594
1992	42,579	494,352
1993	40,505	477,302
1994	38,629	473,200
1995	37,370	468,967
1996	36,228	446,142
1997	34,637	422,773
1998	30,889	393,436
1999	27,393	368,272
2000	24,786	390,167
2001	23,190	312,643
2002	22,274	247,752
2003	20,133	244,251
2004	17,271	225,988
2005	15,831	187,920
2006	15,234	203,441
2007	17,763	248,286
2008	19,349	215,841
2009	20,335	197,231
2010	21,877	213,083
2011	25,647	214,728
2012	27,592	215,859
2013	29,789	166,415
2014	30,922	167,464
2015	32,087	163,248
2016	33,390	122,923
2017	33,601	71,907
2018	33,112	30,951
2019	32,279	10,353
2020	30,721	-31,101
2021	27,806	-56,947
2022	30,803	-124,014
2023	31,115	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Lesotho vs South Korea

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 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Lesotho	South Korea
1985	711	38
1986	680	35
1987	686	34
1988	680	31
1989	680	29
1990	665	28
1991	641	28
1992	601	26
1993	542	24
1994	423	23
1995	357	22
1996	319	20
1997	312	19
1998	332	18
1999	371	17
2000	413	15
2001	465	14
2002	484	13
2003	508	13
2004	499	12
2005	549	11
2006	696	10
2007	891	10
2008	1,205	9
2009	1,387	9
2010	1,311	8
2011	1,210	8
2012	1,000	8
2013	855	7
2014	707	7
2015	594	6
2016	518	6
2017	468	6
2018	491	5
2019	467	5
2020	529	12
2021	577	5
2022	477	7
2023	478	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 5.89% in Lesotho and 0.28% in South 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
	Lesotho	South Korea
1960	18.6%	11.2%
1961	18.5%	10.6%
1962	18.5%	10.1%
1963	18.6%	9.67%
1964	18.6%	9.18%
1965	18.7%	8.68%
1966	18.6%	8.16%
1967	18.5%	7.62%
1968	18.3%	7.1%
1969	18%	6.59%
1970	17.7%	6.12%
1971	17.3%	5.71%
1972	16.9%	5.36%
1973	16.5%	5.07%
1974	16%	4.82%
1975	15.5%	4.61%
1976	14.9%	4.42%
1977	14.2%	4.23%
1978	13.6%	4.04%
1979	12.9%	3.84%
1980	12.3%	3.63%
1981	11.7%	3.4%
1982	11.1%	3.17%
1983	10.6%	2.93%
1984	10.1%	2.7%
1985	9.72%	2.46%
1986	9.36%	2.25%
1987	9.06%	2.05%
1988	8.8%	1.87%
1989	8.6%	1.71%
1990	8.47%	1.57%
1991	8.43%	1.44%
1992	8.51%	1.33%
1993	8.73%	1.23%
1994	9.07%	1.14%
1995	9.45%	1.05%
1996	9.83%	0.98%
1997	10.2%	0.91%
1998	10.5%	0.85%
1999	10.7%	0.8%
2000	10.9%	0.75%
2001	11.1%	0.71%
2002	11.2%	0.68%
2003	11.4%	0.64%
2004	11.5%	0.6%
2005	11.6%	0.56%
2006	11.5%	0.52%
2007	11.2%	0.48%
2008	10.9%	0.45%
2009	9.64%	0.43%
2010	9.01%	0.41%
2011	8.59%	0.4%
2012	8.26%	0.38%
2013	8.02%	0.37%
2014	7.82%	0.36%
2015	7.51%	0.35%
2016	7.18%	0.34%
2017	7.12%	0.33%
2018	6.91%	0.32%
2019	6.87%	0.31%
2020	6.68%	0.3%
2021	6.44%	0.29%
2022	6.15%	0.28%
2023	5.89%	0.28%