Fertility & birth rates in Lesotho and Sri Lanka

Fertility rate in Lesotho vs Sri Lanka 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 1.97 in Sri Lanka in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Lesotho vs Sri Lanka 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	Sri Lanka
1960	5.78	5.35
1961	5.79	5.24
1962	5.79	5.18
1963	5.78	5.12
1964	5.77	5.06
1965	5.77	4.93
1966	5.76	4.83
1967	5.75	4.79
1968	5.73	4.66
1969	5.7	4.5
1970	5.7	4.39
1971	5.7	4.27
1972	5.69	4.16
1973	5.69	4
1974	5.75	3.86
1975	5.83	3.82
1976	5.87	3.78
1977	5.85	3.74
1978	5.82	3.81
1979	5.79	3.82
1980	5.75	3.73
1981	5.69	3.65
1982	5.63	3.32
1983	5.56	3.11
1984	5.48	3.01
1985	5.4	2.9
1986	5.32	2.74
1987	5.22	2.64
1988	5.1	2.57
1989	4.96	2.58
1990	4.81	2.54
1991	4.68	2.51
1992	4.54	2.49
1993	4.37	2.44
1994	4.21	2.4
1995	4.13	2.35
1996	4.06	2.29
1997	3.98	2.22
1998	3.82	2.14
1999	3.67	2.14
2000	3.61	2.21
2001	3.63	2.28
2002	3.68	2.31
2003	3.62	2.3
2004	3.51	2.27
2005	3.43	2.26
2006	3.41	2.29
2007	3.44	2.3
2008	3.39	2.23
2009	3.31	2.18
2010	3.25	2.13
2011	3.34	2.14
2012	3.3	2.17
2013	3.28	2.18
2014	3.24	2.13
2015	3.22	2.09
2016	3.18	2.06
2017	3.11	2.04
2018	3.02	2.03
2019	2.92	2.02
2020	2.85	2.01
2021	2.77	2
2022	2.72	1.98
2023	2.69	1.97
2024	2.66	1.95
2025	2.64	1.94
2026	2.61	1.93
2027	2.58	1.91
2028	2.55	1.9
2029	2.53	1.89
2030	2.5	1.88
2031	2.47	1.87
2032	2.45	1.86
2033	2.43	1.85
2034	2.41	1.85
2035	2.38	1.84
2036	2.37	1.83
2037	2.34	1.83
2038	2.32	1.82
2039	2.3	1.81
2040	2.29	1.81
2041	2.27	1.8
2042	2.25	1.8
2043	2.24	1.8
2044	2.22	1.79
2045	2.21	1.79
2046	2.19	1.79
2047	2.18	1.78
2048	2.17	1.78
2049	2.16	1.77
2050	2.14	1.77

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Lesotho	Sri Lanka
1960	45.1%	41%
1961	45.2%	40.9%
1962	45.3%	40.8%
1963	45.2%	40.7%
1964	44.9%	40.6%
1965	44.8%	40.5%
1966	44.9%	40.4%
1967	44.8%	40.3%
1968	44.4%	40.1%
1969	44%	39.9%
1970	43.6%	39.7%
1971	43.1%	39.5%
1972	42.7%	39.2%
1973	42.3%	38.8%
1974	41.9%	38.4%
1975	41.6%	38%
1976	41.4%	37.6%
1977	41.5%	37.2%
1978	41.7%	36.9%
1979	41.9%	36.7%
1980	42.1%	36.4%
1981	42.3%	36.2%
1982	42.5%	36%
1983	42.7%	35.8%
1984	42.8%	35.5%
1985	43%	35.2%
1986	42.7%	34.6%
1987	42.5%	34%
1988	42.7%	33.5%
1989	42.8%	33%
1990	42.9%	32.5%
1991	42.9%	32.1%
1992	42.8%	31.4%
1993	42.6%	30.6%
1994	42.3%	29.9%
1995	42%	29.2%
1996	41.7%	28.6%
1997	41.2%	28.2%
1998	40.7%	27.8%
1999	40.2%	27.4%
2000	39.6%	27%
2001	39.1%	26.6%
2002	38.6%	26.3%
2003	38.1%	26.1%
2004	37.7%	26%
2005	37.4%	25.8%
2006	37.1%	25.7%
2007	36.8%	25.7%
2008	36.7%	25.6%
2009	36.6%	25.5%
2010	36.5%	25.4%
2011	36.5%	25.3%
2012	36.5%	25.2%
2013	36.5%	25%
2014	36.6%	24.9%
2015	36.6%	24.7%
2016	36.6%	24.5%
2017	36.5%	24.2%
2018	36.3%	24%
2019	36.1%	23.7%
2020	35.8%	23.3%
2021	35.6%	23%
2022	35.3%	22.7%
2023	34.9%	22.4%
2024	34.5%	22%
2025	34.1%	21.7%
2026	33.6%	21.4%
2027	33.1%	21.1%
2028	32.6%	20.8%
2029	32%	20.5%
2030	31.5%	20.2%
2031	31%	20%
2032	30.5%	19.8%
2033	30.1%	19.6%
2034	29.7%	19.4%
2035	29.3%	19.2%
2036	29%	19.1%
2037	28.8%	18.9%
2038	28.5%	18.8%
2039	28.3%	18.7%
2040	28.1%	18.6%
2041	27.8%	18.4%
2042	27.6%	18.3%
2043	27.4%	18.2%
2044	27.1%	18.1%
2045	26.9%	18%
2046	26.7%	17.9%
2047	26.4%	17.7%
2048	26.2%	17.6%
2049	25.9%	17.5%
2050	25.7%	17.3%

Children aged 0-14 make up 34.5% of the population in Lesotho and 22% in Sri Lanka in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 32.5% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Lesotho and Sri Lanka compared.

Natural population change in Lesotho vs Sri Lanka by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.44% in Lesotho and +0.75% in Sri Lanka. 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	Sri Lanka
1960	19,981	247,631
1961	20,581	251,087
1962	21,132	256,719
1963	21,585	262,880
1964	22,116	269,584
1965	22,755	272,422
1966	23,326	275,549
1967	23,911	284,738
1968	24,490	286,642
1969	25,137	286,218
1970	25,935	286,719
1971	26,838	281,200
1972	27,841	282,494
1973	28,859	278,577
1974	30,444	275,521
1975	32,311	282,496
1976	34,117	291,816
1977	35,654	300,038
1978	37,084	317,055
1979	38,440	329,791
1980	39,617	328,155
1981	40,808	328,096
1982	41,941	300,030
1983	42,899	277,768
1984	43,785	263,175
1985	44,575	247,836
1986	45,232	233,782
1987	47,718	226,414
1988	47,158	219,184
1989	46,264	212,401
1990	45,060	224,454
1991	44,026	218,117
1992	42,579	222,230
1993	40,505	226,257
1994	38,629	228,904
1995	37,370	221,957
1996	36,228	215,290
1997	34,637	208,193
1998	30,889	201,059
1999	27,393	206,876
2000	24,786	227,060
2001	23,190	244,377
2002	22,274	252,840
2003	20,133	252,008
2004	17,271	212,527
2005	15,831	248,683
2006	15,234	248,706
2007	17,763	248,287
2008	19,349	232,225
2009	20,335	200,175
2010	21,877	224,325
2011	25,647	224,461
2012	27,592	229,138
2013	29,789	221,021
2014	30,922	211,541
2015	32,087	201,815
2016	33,390	194,232
2017	33,601	187,993
2018	33,112	183,610
2019	32,279	172,243
2020	30,721	170,968
2021	27,806	121,858
2022	30,803	95,378
2023	31,115	66,111

Maternal mortality chart: Lesotho vs Sri Lanka

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 18 deaths in Sri Lanka.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Lesotho	Sri Lanka
1985	711	68
1986	680	66
1987	686	64
1988	680	62
1989	680	61
1990	665	59
1991	641	57
1992	601	54
1993	542	51
1994	423	49
1995	357	48
1996	319	47
1997	312	45
1998	332	43
1999	371	41
2000	413	39
2001	465	37
2002	484	36
2003	508	35
2004	499	37
2005	549	32
2006	696	32
2007	891	31
2008	1,205	30
2009	1,387	28
2010	1,311	26
2011	1,210	25
2012	1,000	24
2013	855	23
2014	707	23
2015	594	22
2016	518	22
2017	468	21
2018	491	21
2019	467	20
2020	529	23
2021	577	34
2022	477	22
2023	478	18

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 5.89% in Lesotho and 0.61% in Sri Lanka. 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	Sri Lanka
1960	18.6%	9.41%
1961	18.5%	8.95%
1962	18.5%	8.66%
1963	18.6%	8.48%
1964	18.6%	8.3%
1965	18.7%	8.07%
1966	18.6%	7.81%
1967	18.5%	7.55%
1968	18.3%	7.32%
1969	18%	7.14%
1970	17.7%	7.02%
1971	17.3%	6.94%
1972	16.9%	6.86%
1973	16.5%	6.77%
1974	16%	6.62%
1975	15.5%	6.41%
1976	14.9%	6.12%
1977	14.2%	5.77%
1978	13.6%	5.38%
1979	12.9%	4.99%
1980	12.3%	4.63%
1981	11.7%	4.29%
1982	11.1%	3.98%
1983	10.6%	3.67%
1984	10.1%	3.35%
1985	9.72%	3.02%
1986	9.36%	2.74%
1987	9.06%	2.54%
1988	8.8%	2.41%
1989	8.6%	2.74%
1990	8.47%	2.33%
1991	8.43%	2.32%
1992	8.51%	2.29%
1993	8.73%	2.22%
1994	9.07%	2.14%
1995	9.45%	2.05%
1996	9.83%	1.95%
1997	10.2%	1.86%
1998	10.5%	1.76%
1999	10.7%	1.69%
2000	10.9%	1.63%
2001	11.1%	1.58%
2002	11.2%	1.55%
2003	11.4%	1.52%
2004	11.5%	2.88%
2005	11.6%	1.4%
2006	11.5%	1.33%
2007	11.2%	1.26%
2008	10.9%	1.2%
2009	9.64%	2.08%
2010	9.01%	1.12%
2011	8.59%	1.08%
2012	8.26%	1.03%
2013	8.02%	0.98%
2014	7.82%	0.92%
2015	7.51%	0.87%
2016	7.18%	0.83%
2017	7.12%	0.79%
2018	6.91%	0.76%
2019	6.87%	0.72%
2020	6.68%	0.69%
2021	6.44%	0.66%
2022	6.15%	0.64%
2023	5.89%	0.61%