Fertility & birth rates in Mexico and South Africa

Fertility rate in Mexico vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Mexico was 1.91 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 Mexico 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
	Mexico	South Africa
1960	6.76	6.11
1961	6.78	6.08
1962	6.8	6.05
1963	6.82	6.01
1964	6.83	5.96
1965	6.82	5.89
1966	6.79	5.91
1967	6.75	5.85
1968	6.71	5.78
1969	6.63	5.72
1970	6.53	5.63
1971	6.42	5.57
1972	6.28	5.49
1973	6.12	5.41
1974	5.95	5.3
1975	5.74	5.19
1976	5.54	5.07
1977	5.36	4.94
1978	5.2	4.85
1979	4.96	4.82
1980	4.74	4.78
1981	4.57	4.71
1982	4.43	4.7
1983	4.3	4.63
1984	4.18	4.57
1985	4.09	4.5
1986	3.97	4.41
1987	3.8	4.35
1988	3.64	4.18
1989	3.53	3.98
1990	3.44	3.72
1991	3.36	3.62
1992	3.29	3.48
1993	3.21	3.37
1994	3.13	3.26
1995	3.04	3.17
1996	2.96	2.99
1997	2.89	2.73
1998	2.82	2.63
1999	2.76	2.56
2000	2.71	2.41
2001	2.67	2.37
2002	2.63	2.32
2003	2.58	2.36
2004	2.54	2.44
2005	2.5	2.51
2006	2.46	2.55
2007	2.42	2.55
2008	2.39	2.68
2009	2.36	2.5
2010	2.34	2.44
2011	2.32	2.44
2012	2.29	2.45
2013	2.27	2.43
2014	2.21	2.42
2015	2.14	2.36
2016	2.09	2.26
2017	2.04	2.28
2018	2.03	2.27
2019	2.02	2.26
2020	1.99	2.26
2021	1.97	2.25
2022	1.94	2.23
2023	1.91	2.22
2024	1.89	2.21
2025	1.87	2.19
2026	1.85	2.17
2027	1.83	2.15
2028	1.82	2.13
2029	1.81	2.12
2030	1.79	2.1
2031	1.78	2.09
2032	1.77	2.07
2033	1.77	2.06
2034	1.76	2.05
2035	1.76	2.04
2036	1.75	2.03
2037	1.75	2.02
2038	1.74	2
2039	1.74	1.99
2040	1.73	1.98
2041	1.73	1.98
2042	1.72	1.97
2043	1.72	1.96
2044	1.72	1.95
2045	1.71	1.94
2046	1.71	1.93
2047	1.71	1.92
2048	1.7	1.91
2049	1.7	1.9
2050	1.7	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Mexico	South Africa
1960	46.8%	42.1%
1961	47%	42.1%
1962	47.1%	42.1%
1963	47.2%	42.1%
1964	47.3%	42.1%
1965	47.4%	42.1%
1966	47.5%	42.1%
1967	47.6%	42.2%
1968	47.6%	42.2%
1969	47.7%	42.2%
1970	47.7%	42.3%
1971	47.8%	42.2%
1972	47.7%	42.2%
1973	47.7%	42.1%
1974	47.6%	42%
1975	47.5%	41.9%
1976	47.2%	41.8%
1977	47%	41.7%
1978	46.7%	41.5%
1979	46.3%	41.3%
1980	45.8%	40.9%
1981	45.2%	40.5%
1982	44.4%	40.1%
1983	43.7%	39.8%
1984	43%	39.5%
1985	42.3%	39.2%
1986	41.6%	38.9%
1987	41%	38.7%
1988	40.3%	38.4%
1989	39.7%	38.1%
1990	39%	37.7%
1991	38.4%	37.5%
1992	37.8%	37.6%
1993	37.3%	37.3%
1994	36.9%	37.2%
1995	36.5%	37.5%
1996	36%	37.5%
1997	35.6%	37.2%
1998	35.2%	36.5%
1999	34.8%	35.7%
2000	34.3%	34.9%
2001	33.9%	34%
2002	33.4%	33.2%
2003	33%	32.3%
2004	32.5%	31.6%
2005	32.1%	31.1%
2006	31.6%	30.6%
2007	31.1%	30.2%
2008	30.6%	29.9%
2009	30.2%	29.7%
2010	29.8%	29.4%
2011	29.4%	29.1%
2012	29%	28.9%
2013	28.7%	28.7%
2014	28.3%	28.5%
2015	28%	28.3%
2016	27.6%	28.3%
2017	27.2%	28.3%
2018	26.7%	27.9%
2019	26.3%	27.4%
2020	26%	27%
2021	25.7%	26.6%
2022	25.3%	26.3%
2023	24.9%	26.1%
2024	24.5%	25.9%
2025	24.1%	25.7%
2026	23.7%	25.6%
2027	23.2%	25.4%
2028	22.8%	25.3%
2029	22.4%	25.2%
2030	22.1%	25.2%
2031	21.7%	25.1%
2032	21.4%	25%
2033	21.2%	24.8%
2034	20.9%	24.5%
2035	20.6%	24.3%
2036	20.3%	23.9%
2037	20.1%	23.6%
2038	19.9%	23.4%
2039	19.6%	23.1%
2040	19.4%	22.9%
2041	19.2%	22.7%
2042	19%	22.5%
2043	18.8%	22.4%
2044	18.6%	22.2%
2045	18.4%	22.1%
2046	18.2%	21.9%
2047	18%	21.8%
2048	17.8%	21.7%
2049	17.7%	21.6%
2050	17.5%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 24.5% of the population in Mexico and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 39% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Mexico and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Mexico vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.05% in Mexico 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
	Mexico	South Africa
1960	1,206,955	421,263
1961	1,265,833	437,851
1962	1,328,319	455,634
1963	1,387,678	473,821
1964	1,447,360	490,606
1965	1,508,344	506,632
1966	1,566,170	534,862
1967	1,620,534	553,741
1968	1,671,918	571,841
1969	1,711,297	590,794
1970	1,753,370	605,102
1971	1,790,990	624,761
1972	1,823,302	638,754
1973	1,845,593	651,596
1974	1,868,809	658,438
1975	1,880,241	667,862
1976	1,891,958	675,011
1977	1,902,964	680,929
1978	1,921,419	694,341
1979	1,908,018	716,541
1980	1,893,158	738,415
1981	1,904,384	767,833
1982	1,921,772	807,550
1983	1,939,193	837,013
1984	1,960,428	869,011
1985	1,983,622	893,889
1986	1,998,043	903,644
1987	1,971,231	922,330
1988	1,936,601	909,221
1989	1,927,752	884,629
1990	1,926,480	835,421
1991	1,942,832	827,296
1992	1,956,659	794,415
1993	1,963,708	789,220
1994	1,959,775	698,609
1995	1,941,458	743,488
1996	1,922,554	710,868
1997	1,898,383	667,969
1998	1,871,650	627,027
1999	1,859,475	594,643
2000	1,845,383	526,963
2001	1,836,418	484,801
2002	1,820,665	430,926
2003	1,788,016	415,018
2004	1,759,250	442,540
2005	1,732,663	464,464
2006	1,706,084	487,584
2007	1,684,915	503,567
2008	1,670,846	595,332
2009	1,661,180	554,115
2010	1,658,682	566,834
2011	1,659,161	601,708
2012	1,656,599	643,723
2013	1,642,609	652,427
2014	1,587,620	674,754
2015	1,508,439	668,771
2016	1,445,256	641,365
2017	1,384,178	645,975
2018	1,366,076	648,319
2019	1,357,485	652,130
2020	1,031,637	595,873
2021	936,682	456,411
2022	1,224,397	603,636
2023	1,238,366	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Mexico vs South Africa

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

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Mexico	South Africa
1985	107	208
1986	100	200
1987	93	192
1988	88	184
1989	85	177
1990	81	170
1991	77	162
1992	73	152
1993	71	145
1994	69	133
1995	66	125
1996	64	150
1997	62	152
1998	60	152
1999	58	151
2000	56	175
2001	55	192
2002	55	225
2003	54	245
2004	53	259
2005	52	279
2006	51	283
2007	50	272
2008	51	272
2009	51	241
2010	50	226
2011	47	202
2012	46	194
2013	45	180
2014	44	162
2015	43	150
2016	43	141
2017	44	134
2018	44	128
2019	43	119
2020	61	118
2021	104	191
2022	45	129
2023	42	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.25% in Mexico 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
	Mexico	South Africa
1960	15.5%	-
1961	14.8%	-
1962	14.3%	-
1963	13.7%	-
1964	13.2%	-
1965	12.7%	-
1966	12.3%	-
1967	11.9%	-
1968	11.5%	-
1969	11.1%	-
1970	10.7%	-
1971	10.3%	-
1972	9.93%	-
1973	9.56%	-
1974	9.21%	13.2%
1975	8.86%	12.5%
1976	8.52%	11.8%
1977	8.18%	11.1%
1978	7.85%	10.5%
1979	7.51%	9.88%
1980	7.18%	9.35%
1981	6.86%	8.84%
1982	6.55%	8.39%
1983	6.26%	7.98%
1984	5.98%	7.6%
1985	5.71%	7.24%
1986	5.46%	6.89%
1987	5.21%	6.56%
1988	4.98%	6.26%
1989	4.75%	6.01%
1990	4.53%	5.82%
1991	4.32%	5.7%
1992	4.12%	5.66%
1993	3.92%	5.7%
1994	3.74%	5.82%
1995	3.57%	5.95%
1996	3.4%	6.11%
1997	3.24%	6.29%
1998	3.09%	6.56%
1999	2.94%	6.85%
2000	2.81%	7.11%
2001	2.68%	7.43%
2002	2.57%	7.69%
2003	2.46%	7.93%
2004	2.36%	8.1%
2005	2.27%	8.03%
2006	2.19%	7.75%
2007	2.11%	7.19%
2008	2.04%	6.42%
2009	1.98%	5.7%
2010	1.91%	5%
2011	1.85%	4.5%
2012	1.79%	4.25%
2013	1.73%	4.1%
2014	1.68%	3.96%
2015	1.62%	3.82%
2016	1.57%	3.68%
2017	1.52%	3.58%
2018	1.47%	3.49%
2019	1.42%	3.45%
2020	1.38%	3.41%
2021	1.33%	3.41%
2022	1.29%	3.44%
2023	1.25%	3.47%