Fertility & birth rates in Lesotho and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in Lesotho vs Zimbabwe 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 3.72 in Zimbabwe in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Lesotho vs Zimbabwe 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	Zimbabwe
1960	5.78	7.2
1961	5.79	7.21
1962	5.79	7.23
1963	5.78	7.23
1964	5.77	7.23
1965	5.77	7.23
1966	5.76	7.2
1967	5.75	7.16
1968	5.73	7.11
1969	5.7	7.04
1970	5.7	6.98
1971	5.7	6.94
1972	5.69	6.94
1973	5.69	6.94
1974	5.75	6.88
1975	5.83	6.83
1976	5.87	6.77
1977	5.85	6.71
1978	5.82	6.66
1979	5.79	6.59
1980	5.75	6.52
1981	5.69	6.45
1982	5.63	6.33
1983	5.56	6.2
1984	5.48	6.04
1985	5.4	5.87
1986	5.32	5.69
1987	5.22	5.5
1988	5.1	5.28
1989	4.96	5.07
1990	4.81	4.88
1991	4.68	4.72
1992	4.54	4.57
1993	4.37	4.39
1994	4.21	4.28
1995	4.13	4.15
1996	4.06	4.11
1997	3.98	4.08
1998	3.82	4.07
1999	3.67	4.06
2000	3.61	4.01
2001	3.63	3.98
2002	3.68	3.93
2003	3.62	3.86
2004	3.51	3.78
2005	3.43	3.69
2006	3.41	3.64
2007	3.44	3.68
2008	3.39	3.78
2009	3.31	3.95
2010	3.25	4.04
2011	3.34	4.13
2012	3.3	4.13
2013	3.28	4.11
2014	3.24	4.01
2015	3.22	3.91
2016	3.18	3.83
2017	3.11	3.77
2018	3.02	3.74
2019	2.92	3.75
2020	2.85	3.75
2021	2.77	3.77
2022	2.72	3.77
2023	2.69	3.72
2024	2.66	3.67
2025	2.64	3.62
2026	2.61	3.57
2027	2.58	3.52
2028	2.55	3.47
2029	2.53	3.43
2030	2.5	3.38
2031	2.47	3.33
2032	2.45	3.29
2033	2.43	3.25
2034	2.41	3.21
2035	2.38	3.17
2036	2.37	3.13
2037	2.34	3.09
2038	2.32	3.06
2039	2.3	3.02
2040	2.29	2.99
2041	2.27	2.96
2042	2.25	2.93
2043	2.24	2.9
2044	2.22	2.87
2045	2.21	2.84
2046	2.19	2.81
2047	2.18	2.78
2048	2.17	2.75
2049	2.16	2.72
2050	2.14	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Lesotho	Zimbabwe
1960	45.1%	47.3%
1961	45.2%	47.7%
1962	45.3%	48.1%
1963	45.2%	48.5%
1964	44.9%	48.8%
1965	44.8%	48.7%
1966	44.9%	48.6%
1967	44.8%	48.5%
1968	44.4%	48.5%
1969	44%	48.4%
1970	43.6%	48.3%
1971	43.1%	48.2%
1972	42.7%	48.2%
1973	42.3%	48.1%
1974	41.9%	48.1%
1975	41.6%	48.1%
1976	41.4%	48.2%
1977	41.5%	48.3%
1978	41.7%	48.5%
1979	41.9%	48.8%
1980	42.1%	48.7%
1981	42.3%	48.4%
1982	42.5%	48.3%
1983	42.7%	48.2%
1984	42.8%	48.1%
1985	43%	48%
1986	42.7%	47.9%
1987	42.5%	47.9%
1988	42.7%	47.9%
1989	42.8%	47.6%
1990	42.9%	47.1%
1991	42.9%	46.6%
1992	42.8%	46.8%
1993	42.6%	47.1%
1994	42.3%	46.6%
1995	42%	45.9%
1996	41.7%	45%
1997	41.2%	44%
1998	40.7%	43.1%
1999	40.2%	42.4%
2000	39.6%	41.9%
2001	39.1%	41.5%
2002	38.6%	41.4%
2003	38.1%	41.5%
2004	37.7%	41.7%
2005	37.4%	41.9%
2006	37.1%	42%
2007	36.8%	42.1%
2008	36.7%	42.4%
2009	36.6%	42.7%
2010	36.5%	43%
2011	36.5%	43.4%
2012	36.5%	43.7%
2013	36.5%	43.9%
2014	36.6%	43.9%
2015	36.6%	43.8%
2016	36.6%	43.6%
2017	36.5%	43.3%
2018	36.3%	42.9%
2019	36.1%	42.5%
2020	35.8%	42.2%
2021	35.6%	41.9%
2022	35.3%	41.6%
2023	34.9%	41.3%
2024	34.5%	40.9%
2025	34.1%	40.3%
2026	33.6%	39.6%
2027	33.1%	39%
2028	32.6%	38.4%
2029	32%	37.8%
2030	31.5%	37.4%
2031	31%	37%
2032	30.5%	36.8%
2033	30.1%	36.5%
2034	29.7%	36.3%
2035	29.3%	36.1%
2036	29%	35.8%
2037	28.8%	35.6%
2038	28.5%	35.3%
2039	28.3%	35.1%
2040	28.1%	34.8%
2041	27.8%	34.6%
2042	27.6%	34.3%
2043	27.4%	34.1%
2044	27.1%	33.8%
2045	26.9%	33.5%
2046	26.7%	33.2%
2047	26.4%	32.9%
2048	26.2%	32.6%
2049	25.9%	32.2%
2050	25.7%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 34.5% of the population in Lesotho and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Lesotho and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in Lesotho vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.44% in Lesotho and +2.34% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	19,981	126,959
1961	20,581	131,531
1962	21,132	136,317
1963	21,585	140,984
1964	22,116	145,848
1965	22,755	151,164
1966	23,326	156,014
1967	23,911	161,205
1968	24,490	166,865
1969	25,137	172,626
1970	25,935	178,979
1971	26,838	185,427
1972	27,841	193,725
1973	28,859	201,885
1974	30,444	208,806
1975	32,311	216,947
1976	34,117	221,419
1977	35,654	225,139
1978	37,084	222,979
1979	38,440	223,657
1980	39,617	241,179
1981	40,808	271,361
1982	41,941	279,934
1983	42,899	286,545
1984	43,785	290,052
1985	44,575	290,756
1986	45,232	289,894
1987	47,718	286,766
1988	47,158	277,498
1989	46,264	270,838
1990	45,060	265,444
1991	44,026	260,943
1992	42,579	255,291
1993	40,505	228,045
1994	38,629	216,343
1995	37,370	206,695
1996	36,228	205,269
1997	34,637	216,288
1998	30,889	225,614
1999	27,393	232,393
2000	24,786	236,343
2001	23,190	227,909
2002	22,274	244,170
2003	20,133	243,057
2004	17,271	248,307
2005	15,831	248,545
2006	15,234	248,963
2007	17,763	261,805
2008	19,349	280,527
2009	20,335	309,316
2010	21,877	335,570
2011	25,647	359,572
2012	27,592	371,135
2013	29,789	374,757
2014	30,922	366,350
2015	32,087	356,203
2016	33,390	348,772
2017	33,601	344,035
2018	33,112	345,883
2019	32,279	348,798
2020	30,721	354,790
2021	27,806	349,908
2022	30,803	371,243
2023	31,115	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: Lesotho vs Zimbabwe

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 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Lesotho	Zimbabwe
1985	711	573
1986	680	525
1987	686	480
1988	680	431
1989	680	382
1990	665	353
1991	641	332
1992	601	333
1993	542	331
1994	423	332
1995	357	332
1996	319	352
1997	312	357
1998	332	368
1999	371	399
2000	413	405
2001	465	467
2002	484	418
2003	508	455
2004	499	451
2005	549	454
2006	696	480
2007	891	519
2008	1,205	526
2009	1,387	540
2010	1,311	567
2011	1,210	564
2012	1,000	558
2013	855	525
2014	707	468
2015	594	428
2016	518	411
2017	468	389
2018	491	386
2019	467	388
2020	529	380
2021	577	446
2022	477	368
2023	478	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 5.89% in Lesotho and 4.42% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	18.6%	15.2%
1961	18.5%	14.8%
1962	18.5%	14.4%
1963	18.6%	14%
1964	18.6%	13.5%
1965	18.7%	13.1%
1966	18.6%	12.7%
1967	18.5%	12.4%
1968	18.3%	12.1%
1969	18%	11.8%
1970	17.7%	11.7%
1971	17.3%	11.5%
1972	16.9%	11.5%
1973	16.5%	11.4%
1974	16%	11.4%
1975	15.5%	11.4%
1976	14.9%	11.5%
1977	14.2%	11.5%
1978	13.6%	11.5%
1979	12.9%	11.3%
1980	12.3%	11.1%
1981	11.7%	10.7%
1982	11.1%	10.1%
1983	10.6%	9.5%
1984	10.1%	8.87%
1985	9.72%	8.31%
1986	9.36%	7.86%
1987	9.06%	7.61%
1988	8.8%	7.55%
1989	8.6%	7.69%
1990	8.47%	7.97%
1991	8.43%	8.33%
1992	8.51%	8.73%
1993	8.73%	9.16%
1994	9.07%	9.52%
1995	9.45%	9.83%
1996	9.83%	10%
1997	10.2%	10.1%
1998	10.5%	10%
1999	10.7%	9.92%
2000	10.9%	9.83%
2001	11.1%	9.79%
2002	11.2%	8.48%
2003	11.4%	8.85%
2004	11.5%	9.17%
2005	11.6%	9.23%
2006	11.5%	9.4%
2007	11.2%	9.47%
2008	10.9%	9.34%
2009	9.64%	9.03%
2010	9.01%	8.5%
2011	8.59%	7.88%
2012	8.26%	7.14%
2013	8.02%	6.55%
2014	7.82%	6.18%
2015	7.51%	5.98%
2016	7.18%	5.69%
2017	7.12%	5.5%
2018	6.91%	5.23%
2019	6.87%	5.11%
2020	6.68%	5.01%
2021	6.44%	4.76%
2022	6.15%	4.6%
2023	5.89%	4.42%