Fertility & birth rates in Libya and South Africa

Fertility rate in Libya vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Libya was 2.36 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Libya vs South Africa population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Libya	South Africa
1960	7.51	6.11
1961	7.56	6.08
1962	7.61	6.05
1963	7.69	6.01
1964	7.75	5.96
1965	7.82	5.89
1966	7.89	5.91
1967	7.93	5.85
1968	7.97	5.78
1969	8.01	5.72
1970	8.05	5.63
1971	8.1	5.57
1972	8.07	5.49
1973	8.05	5.41
1974	8.02	5.3
1975	7.98	5.19
1976	7.93	5.07
1977	7.87	4.94
1978	7.79	4.85
1979	7.68	4.82
1980	7.54	4.78
1981	7.37	4.71
1982	7.16	4.7
1983	6.91	4.63
1984	6.62	4.57
1985	6.33	4.5
1986	6.02	4.41
1987	5.72	4.35
1988	5.41	4.18
1989	5.09	3.98
1990	4.78	3.72
1991	4.46	3.62
1992	4.16	3.48
1993	3.88	3.37
1994	3.65	3.26
1995	3.44	3.17
1996	3.26	2.99
1997	3.13	2.73
1998	3.04	2.63
1999	2.97	2.56
2000	2.91	2.41
2001	2.87	2.37
2002	2.83	2.32
2003	2.8	2.36
2004	2.77	2.44
2005	2.77	2.51
2006	2.7	2.55
2007	2.65	2.55
2008	2.6	2.68
2009	2.56	2.5
2010	2.6	2.44
2011	2.65	2.44
2012	2.68	2.45
2013	2.72	2.43
2014	2.75	2.42
2015	2.71	2.36
2016	2.67	2.26
2017	2.63	2.28
2018	2.58	2.27
2019	2.54	2.26
2020	2.51	2.26
2021	2.46	2.25
2022	2.4	2.23
2023	2.36	2.22
2024	2.3	2.21
2025	2.25	2.19
2026	2.21	2.17
2027	2.18	2.15
2028	2.14	2.13
2029	2.11	2.12
2030	2.08	2.1
2031	2.06	2.09
2032	2.03	2.07
2033	2.01	2.06
2034	1.99	2.05
2035	1.97	2.04
2036	1.95	2.03
2037	1.94	2.02
2038	1.92	2
2039	1.91	1.99
2040	1.9	1.98
2041	1.89	1.98
2042	1.88	1.97
2043	1.87	1.96
2044	1.86	1.95
2045	1.85	1.94
2046	1.84	1.93
2047	1.83	1.92
2048	1.83	1.91
2049	1.82	1.9
2050	1.82	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Libya	South Africa
1960	43.6%	42.1%
1961	44.2%	42.1%
1962	44.8%	42.1%
1963	45.5%	42.1%
1964	46.1%	42.1%
1965	47%	42.1%
1966	48.4%	42.1%
1967	49.5%	42.2%
1968	50.3%	42.2%
1969	50.7%	42.2%
1970	50.9%	42.3%
1971	50.9%	42.2%
1972	50.9%	42.2%
1973	50.2%	42.1%
1974	49.3%	42%
1975	48.9%	41.9%
1976	48.6%	41.8%
1977	48.2%	41.7%
1978	48%	41.5%
1979	47.9%	41.3%
1980	47.7%	40.9%
1981	47.5%	40.5%
1982	47.3%	40.1%
1983	46.8%	39.8%
1984	46.1%	39.5%
1985	45.5%	39.2%
1986	44.8%	38.9%
1987	44.1%	38.7%
1988	43.4%	38.4%
1989	42.6%	38.1%
1990	41.7%	37.7%
1991	40.7%	37.5%
1992	39.7%	37.6%
1993	38.6%	37.3%
1994	37.4%	37.2%
1995	36.3%	37.5%
1996	35.2%	37.5%
1997	34.2%	37.2%
1998	33.3%	36.5%
1999	32.5%	35.7%
2000	32%	34.9%
2001	31.7%	34%
2002	31.5%	33.2%
2003	31.3%	32.3%
2004	31.2%	31.6%
2005	31.1%	31.1%
2006	30.9%	30.6%
2007	30.6%	30.2%
2008	30.3%	29.9%
2009	30.1%	29.7%
2010	29.9%	29.4%
2011	30.7%	29.1%
2012	31.5%	28.9%
2013	31.3%	28.7%
2014	31.1%	28.5%
2015	31%	28.3%
2016	30.9%	28.3%
2017	30.6%	28.3%
2018	30.3%	27.9%
2019	29.9%	27.4%
2020	29.5%	27%
2021	29%	26.6%
2022	28.5%	26.3%
2023	28%	26.1%
2024	27.4%	25.9%
2025	26.8%	25.7%
2026	26.2%	25.6%
2027	25.6%	25.4%
2028	25.1%	25.3%
2029	24.5%	25.2%
2030	23.9%	25.2%
2031	23.4%	25.1%
2032	23%	25%
2033	22.5%	24.8%
2034	22.1%	24.5%
2035	21.8%	24.3%
2036	21.5%	23.9%
2037	21.3%	23.6%
2038	21%	23.4%
2039	20.9%	23.1%
2040	20.7%	22.9%
2041	20.6%	22.7%
2042	20.5%	22.5%
2043	20.4%	22.4%
2044	20.3%	22.2%
2045	20.2%	22.1%
2046	20.1%	21.9%
2047	20%	21.8%
2048	19.9%	21.7%
2049	19.8%	21.6%
2050	19.6%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 27.4% of the population in Libya and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 41.7% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Libya and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Libya vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.43% in Libya and +1.05% in South Africa. 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
	Libya	South Africa
1960	38,391	421,263
1961	42,167	437,851
1962	46,252	455,634
1963	50,421	473,821
1964	55,227	490,606
1965	59,134	506,632
1966	60,394	534,862
1967	61,889	553,741
1968	63,971	571,841
1969	66,782	590,794
1970	70,488	605,102
1971	74,934	624,761
1972	77,864	638,754
1973	81,256	651,596
1974	89,337	658,438
1975	94,862	667,862
1976	101,146	675,011
1977	107,769	680,929
1978	114,669	694,341
1979	121,469	716,541
1980	128,034	738,415
1981	130,233	767,833
1982	133,511	807,550
1983	122,183	837,013
1984	110,028	869,011
1985	110,194	893,889
1986	109,325	903,644
1987	107,761	922,330
1988	105,469	909,221
1989	102,823	884,629
1990	99,898	835,421
1991	96,582	827,296
1992	93,568	794,415
1993	90,553	789,220
1994	88,765	698,609
1995	87,661	743,488
1996	86,945	710,868
1997	86,899	667,969
1998	87,613	627,027
1999	88,743	594,643
2000	89,814	526,963
2001	93,370	484,801
2002	97,598	430,926
2003	102,144	415,018
2004	107,144	442,540
2005	112,823	464,464
2006	115,645	487,584
2007	116,704	503,567
2008	117,481	595,332
2009	118,102	554,115
2010	122,926	566,834
2011	121,016	601,708
2012	108,855	643,723
2013	110,772	652,427
2014	110,420	674,754
2015	108,096	668,771
2016	105,265	641,365
2017	103,891	645,975
2018	101,619	648,319
2019	97,842	652,130
2020	92,950	595,873
2021	88,005	456,411
2022	91,951	603,636
2023	75,760	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Libya vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 59 deaths per 100,000 live births in Libya, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Libya	South Africa
1985	86	208
1986	82	200
1987	77	192
1988	74	184
1989	70	177
1990	67	170
1991	64	162
1992	61	152
1993	60	145
1994	59	133
1995	59	125
1996	61	150
1997	64	152
1998	67	152
1999	69	151
2000	71	175
2001	71	192
2002	69	225
2003	68	245
2004	67	259
2005	66	279
2006	66	283
2007	67	272
2008	68	272
2009	70	241
2010	71	226
2011	81	202
2012	74	194
2013	75	180
2014	77	162
2015	76	150
2016	74	141
2017	69	134
2018	66	128
2019	65	119
2020	71	118
2021	98	191
2022	60	129
2023	59	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 3.08% in Libya and 3.47% in South Africa. 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
	Libya	South Africa
1960	27.7%	-
1961	26%	-
1962	24.3%	-
1963	22.7%	-
1964	21.2%	-
1965	19.7%	-
1966	18.3%	-
1967	17%	-
1968	15.8%	-
1969	14.7%	-
1970	13.6%	-
1971	12.6%	-
1972	11.7%	-
1973	10.9%	-
1974	10.2%	13.2%
1975	9.5%	12.5%
1976	8.91%	11.8%
1977	8.39%	11.1%
1978	7.92%	10.5%
1979	7.5%	9.88%
1980	7.11%	9.35%
1981	6.76%	8.84%
1982	6.42%	8.39%
1983	6.1%	7.98%
1984	5.79%	7.6%
1985	5.5%	7.24%
1986	5.21%	6.89%
1987	4.94%	6.56%
1988	4.67%	6.26%
1989	4.42%	6.01%
1990	4.19%	5.82%
1991	3.98%	5.7%
1992	3.78%	5.66%
1993	3.61%	5.7%
1994	3.46%	5.82%
1995	3.32%	5.95%
1996	3.2%	6.11%
1997	3.09%	6.29%
1998	2.99%	6.56%
1999	2.9%	6.85%
2000	2.81%	7.11%
2001	2.73%	7.43%
2002	2.65%	7.69%
2003	2.55%	7.93%
2004	2.44%	8.1%
2005	2.31%	8.03%
2006	2.17%	7.75%
2007	2.02%	7.19%
2008	1.88%	6.42%
2009	1.76%	5.7%
2010	1.66%	5%
2011	1.96%	4.5%
2012	1.51%	4.25%
2013	1.45%	4.1%
2014	1.39%	3.96%
2015	1.33%	3.82%
2016	1.28%	3.68%
2017	1.24%	3.58%
2018	1.19%	3.49%
2019	1.16%	3.45%
2020	1.12%	3.41%
2021	1.08%	3.41%
2022	1.05%	3.44%
2023	3.08%	3.47%