Fertility & birth rates in Malawi and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in Malawi vs Zimbabwe chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Malawi was 3.65 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 Malawi 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
	Malawi	Zimbabwe
1960	7.04	7.2
1961	7.07	7.21
1962	7.1	7.23
1963	7.13	7.23
1964	7.11	7.23
1965	7.13	7.23
1966	7.17	7.2
1967	7.21	7.16
1968	7.26	7.11
1969	7.27	7.04
1970	7.3	6.98
1971	7.31	6.94
1972	7.33	6.94
1973	7.34	6.94
1974	7.34	6.88
1975	7.36	6.83
1976	7.39	6.77
1977	7.41	6.71
1978	7.43	6.66
1979	7.47	6.59
1980	7.52	6.52
1981	7.49	6.45
1982	7.45	6.33
1983	7.36	6.2
1984	7.27	6.04
1985	7.17	5.87
1986	7.07	5.69
1987	6.97	5.5
1988	6.88	5.28
1989	6.8	5.07
1990	6.74	4.88
1991	6.68	4.72
1992	6.63	4.57
1993	6.57	4.39
1994	6.49	4.28
1995	6.39	4.15
1996	6.29	4.11
1997	6.23	4.08
1998	6.21	4.07
1999	6.12	4.06
2000	6	4.01
2001	5.94	3.98
2002	5.9	3.93
2003	5.88	3.86
2004	5.86	3.78
2005	5.85	3.69
2006	5.8	3.64
2007	5.72	3.68
2008	5.61	3.78
2009	5.45	3.95
2010	5.26	4.04
2011	5.08	4.13
2012	4.9	4.13
2013	4.76	4.11
2014	4.57	4.01
2015	4.38	3.91
2016	4.22	3.83
2017	4.11	3.77
2018	4.02	3.74
2019	3.95	3.75
2020	3.88	3.75
2021	3.79	3.77
2022	3.72	3.77
2023	3.65	3.72
2024	3.59	3.67
2025	3.53	3.62
2026	3.45	3.57
2027	3.39	3.52
2028	3.33	3.47
2029	3.29	3.43
2030	3.23	3.38
2031	3.18	3.33
2032	3.13	3.29
2033	3.09	3.25
2034	3.05	3.21
2035	3.01	3.17
2036	2.97	3.13
2037	2.93	3.09
2038	2.89	3.06
2039	2.86	3.02
2040	2.82	2.99
2041	2.79	2.96
2042	2.76	2.93
2043	2.73	2.9
2044	2.7	2.87
2045	2.67	2.84
2046	2.64	2.81
2047	2.61	2.78
2048	2.59	2.75
2049	2.57	2.72
2050	2.54	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Malawi	Zimbabwe
1960	43.1%	47.3%
1961	42.9%	47.7%
1962	42.8%	48.1%
1963	42.9%	48.5%
1964	43%	48.8%
1965	43.2%	48.7%
1966	43.4%	48.6%
1967	43.7%	48.5%
1968	43.9%	48.5%
1969	44.2%	48.4%
1970	44.4%	48.3%
1971	44.6%	48.2%
1972	44.8%	48.2%
1973	44.9%	48.1%
1974	45.1%	48.1%
1975	45.2%	48.1%
1976	45.2%	48.2%
1977	45.3%	48.3%
1978	45.3%	48.5%
1979	45.3%	48.8%
1980	45.4%	48.7%
1981	45.4%	48.4%
1982	45.4%	48.3%
1983	45.5%	48.2%
1984	45.5%	48.1%
1985	45.4%	48%
1986	45.4%	47.9%
1987	45.1%	47.9%
1988	45%	47.9%
1989	45.2%	47.6%
1990	45.4%	47.1%
1991	45.6%	46.6%
1992	45.8%	46.8%
1993	46%	47.1%
1994	46.1%	46.6%
1995	46.1%	45.9%
1996	46.2%	45%
1997	46.2%	44%
1998	46.2%	43.1%
1999	46.2%	42.4%
2000	46.2%	41.9%
2001	46.1%	41.5%
2002	46.1%	41.4%
2003	46.1%	41.5%
2004	46%	41.7%
2005	46%	41.9%
2006	46.1%	42%
2007	46.1%	42.1%
2008	46.1%	42.4%
2009	46.2%	42.7%
2010	46.2%	43%
2011	46.2%	43.4%
2012	46.1%	43.7%
2013	46%	43.9%
2014	45.7%	43.9%
2015	45.4%	43.8%
2016	45.1%	43.6%
2017	44.6%	43.3%
2018	44.2%	42.9%
2019	43.7%	42.5%
2020	43.1%	42.2%
2021	42.5%	41.9%
2022	41.9%	41.6%
2023	41.3%	41.3%
2024	40.7%	40.9%
2025	40.1%	40.3%
2026	39.6%	39.6%
2027	39.1%	39%
2028	38.6%	38.4%
2029	38.1%	37.8%
2030	37.7%	37.4%
2031	37.4%	37%
2032	37%	36.8%
2033	36.7%	36.5%
2034	36.4%	36.3%
2035	36%	36.1%
2036	35.7%	35.8%
2037	35.3%	35.6%
2038	35%	35.3%
2039	34.6%	35.1%
2040	34.2%	34.8%
2041	33.9%	34.6%
2042	33.5%	34.3%
2043	33.1%	34.1%
2044	32.7%	33.8%
2045	32.3%	33.5%
2046	31.9%	33.2%
2047	31.5%	32.9%
2048	31.2%	32.6%
2049	30.8%	32.2%
2050	30.5%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 40.7% of the population in Malawi and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 45.4% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Malawi and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in Malawi vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.67% in Malawi 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
	Malawi	Zimbabwe
1960	85,718	126,959
1961	89,091	131,531
1962	92,463	136,317
1963	95,933	140,984
1964	97,658	145,848
1965	100,040	151,164
1966	103,512	156,014
1967	106,668	161,205
1968	110,329	166,865
1969	113,120	172,626
1970	116,822	178,979
1971	121,015	185,427
1972	125,728	193,725
1973	131,529	201,885
1974	137,819	208,806
1975	145,254	216,947
1976	153,422	221,419
1977	161,930	225,139
1978	172,503	222,979
1979	182,123	223,657
1980	192,746	241,179
1981	199,436	271,361
1982	205,386	279,934
1983	209,422	286,545
1984	212,146	290,052
1985	216,179	290,756
1986	218,519	289,894
1987	220,566	286,766
1988	226,911	277,498
1989	237,967	270,838
1990	250,159	265,444
1991	260,193	260,943
1992	269,066	255,291
1993	276,538	228,045
1994	275,439	216,343
1995	266,745	206,695
1996	270,048	205,269
1997	277,433	216,288
1998	285,407	225,614
1999	295,629	232,393
2000	300,439	236,343
2001	310,833	227,909
2002	322,863	244,170
2003	341,133	243,057
2004	361,133	248,307
2005	381,130	248,545
2006	397,123	248,963
2007	410,290	261,805
2008	421,781	280,527
2009	434,811	309,316
2010	444,468	335,570
2011	454,149	359,572
2012	460,684	371,135
2013	470,293	374,757
2014	472,418	366,350
2015	472,484	356,203
2016	474,779	348,772
2017	484,655	344,035
2018	494,348	345,883
2019	506,104	348,798
2020	514,659	354,790
2021	517,400	349,908
2022	533,450	371,243
2023	549,096	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: Malawi vs Zimbabwe

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 225 deaths per 100,000 live births in Malawi, compared to 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Malawi	Zimbabwe
1985	1,115	573
1986	1,118	525
1987	1,123	480
1988	1,154	431
1989	1,136	382
1990	1,112	353
1991	1,080	332
1992	1,042	333
1993	1,000	331
1994	912	332
1995	782	332
1996	713	352
1997	672	357
1998	658	368
1999	576	399
2000	506	405
2001	447	467
2002	404	418
2003	346	455
2004	304	451
2005	283	454
2006	286	480
2007	333	519
2008	430	526
2009	512	540
2010	517	567
2011	486	564
2012	447	558
2013	410	525
2014	367	468
2015	354	428
2016	312	411
2017	284	389
2018	267	386
2019	260	388
2020	256	380
2021	286	446
2022	239	368
2023	225	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 3.83% in Malawi 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
	Malawi	Zimbabwe
1960	-	15.2%
1961	35.9%	14.8%
1962	35.8%	14.4%
1963	35.7%	14%
1964	35.5%	13.5%
1965	35.4%	13.1%
1966	35.3%	12.7%
1967	35.1%	12.4%
1968	35%	12.1%
1969	34.7%	11.8%
1970	34.4%	11.7%
1971	33.9%	11.5%
1972	33.2%	11.5%
1973	32.4%	11.4%
1974	31.5%	11.4%
1975	30.6%	11.4%
1976	29.7%	11.5%
1977	28.7%	11.5%
1978	27.6%	11.5%
1979	26.5%	11.3%
1980	25.6%	11.1%
1981	24.9%	10.7%
1982	24.5%	10.1%
1983	24.5%	9.5%
1984	24.8%	8.87%
1985	25.1%	8.31%
1986	25.4%	7.86%
1987	25.5%	7.61%
1988	25.3%	7.55%
1989	24.9%	7.69%
1990	24.3%	7.97%
1991	23.6%	8.33%
1992	22.8%	8.73%
1993	22%	9.16%
1994	21.3%	9.52%
1995	20.7%	9.83%
1996	20.2%	10%
1997	19.7%	10.1%
1998	19.2%	10%
1999	18.4%	9.92%
2000	17.3%	9.83%
2001	16%	9.79%
2002	14.6%	8.48%
2003	13.2%	8.85%
2004	11.9%	9.17%
2005	11%	9.23%
2006	10.3%	9.4%
2007	9.83%	9.47%
2008	9.31%	9.34%
2009	8.81%	9.03%
2010	8.3%	8.5%
2011	7.67%	7.88%
2012	6.98%	7.14%
2013	6.4%	6.55%
2014	6.02%	6.18%
2015	5.67%	5.98%
2016	5.35%	5.69%
2017	5.06%	5.5%
2018	4.75%	5.23%
2019	4.55%	5.11%
2020	4.31%	5.01%
2021	4.15%	4.76%
2022	3.99%	4.6%
2023	3.83%	4.42%