Fertility & birth rates in Moldova and South Africa

Fertility rate in Moldova vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Moldova was 1.73 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 Moldova 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
	Moldova	South Africa
1960	3.32	6.11
1961	3.23	6.08
1962	3.04	6.05
1963	2.89	6.01
1964	2.71	5.96
1965	2.69	5.89
1966	2.65	5.91
1967	2.62	5.85
1968	2.59	5.78
1969	2.57	5.72
1970	2.57	5.63
1971	2.56	5.57
1972	2.56	5.49
1973	2.57	5.41
1974	2.56	5.3
1975	2.52	5.19
1976	2.47	5.07
1977	2.42	4.94
1978	2.39	4.85
1979	2.38	4.82
1980	2.38	4.78
1981	2.4	4.71
1982	2.45	4.7
1983	2.58	4.63
1984	2.67	4.57
1985	2.67	4.5
1986	2.74	4.41
1987	2.78	4.35
1988	2.63	4.18
1989	2.46	3.98
1990	2.39	3.72
1991	2.28	3.62
1992	2.22	3.48
1993	2.11	3.37
1994	1.99	3.26
1995	1.83	3.17
1996	1.71	2.99
1997	1.79	2.73
1998	1.65	2.63
1999	1.56	2.56
2000	1.5	2.41
2001	1.47	2.37
2002	1.45	2.32
2003	1.48	2.36
2004	1.54	2.44
2005	1.53	2.51
2006	1.54	2.55
2007	1.58	2.55
2008	1.64	2.68
2009	1.72	2.5
2010	1.7	2.44
2011	1.65	2.44
2012	1.66	2.45
2013	1.62	2.43
2014	1.82	2.42
2015	1.87	2.36
2016	1.89	2.26
2017	1.81	2.28
2018	1.81	2.27
2019	1.78	2.26
2020	1.77	2.26
2021	1.75	2.25
2022	1.69	2.23
2023	1.73	2.22
2024	1.73	2.21
2025	1.72	2.19
2026	1.72	2.17
2027	1.72	2.15
2028	1.72	2.13
2029	1.72	2.12
2030	1.72	2.1
2031	1.72	2.09
2032	1.72	2.07
2033	1.71	2.06
2034	1.71	2.05
2035	1.71	2.04
2036	1.71	2.03
2037	1.71	2.02
2038	1.71	2
2039	1.71	1.99
2040	1.71	1.98
2041	1.71	1.98
2042	1.71	1.97
2043	1.7	1.96
2044	1.7	1.95
2045	1.7	1.94
2046	1.7	1.93
2047	1.7	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
	Moldova	South Africa
1960	34.5%	42.1%
1961	34.9%	42.1%
1962	35.1%	42.1%
1963	35.1%	42.1%
1964	34.7%	42.1%
1965	34.2%	42.1%
1966	33.5%	42.1%
1967	32.8%	42.2%
1968	32.1%	42.2%
1969	31.3%	42.2%
1970	30.7%	42.3%
1971	30.1%	42.2%
1972	29.5%	42.2%
1973	28.9%	42.1%
1974	28.3%	42%
1975	27.7%	41.9%
1976	27.2%	41.8%
1977	26.8%	41.7%
1978	26.5%	41.5%
1979	26.7%	41.3%
1980	26.9%	40.9%
1981	26.9%	40.5%
1982	27%	40.1%
1983	27.1%	39.8%
1984	27.3%	39.5%
1985	27.5%	39.2%
1986	27.7%	38.9%
1987	27.8%	38.7%
1988	27.9%	38.4%
1989	27.8%	38.1%
1990	27.7%	37.7%
1991	27.6%	37.5%
1992	27.4%	37.6%
1993	27.2%	37.3%
1994	27%	37.2%
1995	26.7%	37.5%
1996	26.3%	37.5%
1997	25.8%	37.2%
1998	25.1%	36.5%
1999	24.4%	35.7%
2000	23.5%	34.9%
2001	22.5%	34%
2002	21.6%	33.2%
2003	20.7%	32.3%
2004	19.9%	31.6%
2005	19.3%	31.1%
2006	18.8%	30.6%
2007	18.4%	30.2%
2008	18%	29.9%
2009	17.7%	29.7%
2010	17.5%	29.4%
2011	17.4%	29.1%
2012	17.3%	28.9%
2013	17.4%	28.7%
2014	17.8%	28.5%
2015	18.2%	28.3%
2016	18.7%	28.3%
2017	19.1%	28.3%
2018	19.5%	27.9%
2019	19.8%	27.4%
2020	20%	27%
2021	20.1%	26.6%
2022	20.1%	26.3%
2023	20%	26.1%
2024	19.8%	25.9%
2025	19.5%	25.7%
2026	19.2%	25.6%
2027	18.9%	25.4%
2028	18.4%	25.3%
2029	17.9%	25.2%
2030	17.3%	25.2%
2031	16.8%	25.1%
2032	16.3%	25%
2033	15.9%	24.8%
2034	15.6%	24.5%
2035	15.4%	24.3%
2036	15.2%	23.9%
2037	15.1%	23.6%
2038	15.1%	23.4%
2039	15.1%	23.1%
2040	15.2%	22.9%
2041	15.3%	22.7%
2042	15.4%	22.5%
2043	15.6%	22.4%
2044	15.7%	22.2%
2045	15.9%	22.1%
2046	16.1%	21.9%
2047	16.3%	21.8%
2048	16.5%	21.7%
2049	16.6%	21.6%
2050	16.7%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 19.8% of the population in Moldova and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 27.7% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Moldova and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Moldova vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.08% in Moldova 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
	Moldova	South Africa
1960	36,352	421,263
1961	35,180	437,851
1962	32,082	455,634
1963	29,382	473,821
1964	25,860	490,606
1965	24,916	506,632
1966	23,720	534,862
1967	22,654	553,741
1968	22,005	571,841
1969	21,768	590,794
1970	22,314	605,102
1971	23,359	624,761
1972	24,626	638,754
1973	25,967	651,596
1974	27,219	658,438
1975	27,677	667,862
1976	27,801	675,011
1977	27,707	680,929
1978	27,622	694,341
1979	28,322	716,541
1980	30,053	738,415
1981	31,360	767,833
1982	32,814	807,550
1983	36,076	837,013
1984	38,108	869,011
1985	38,060	893,889
1986	39,463	903,644
1987	40,122	922,330
1988	35,608	909,221
1989	29,638	884,629
1990	25,824	835,421
1991	21,127	827,296
1992	17,373	794,415
1993	13,886	789,220
1994	9,921	698,609
1995	5,534	743,488
1996	2,655	710,868
1997	4,669	667,969
1998	2,140	627,027
1999	642	594,643
2000	-324	526,963
2001	-718	484,801
2002	-1,249	430,926
2003	-322	415,018
2004	1,714	442,540
2005	2,005	464,464
2006	2,406	487,584
2007	3,490	503,567
2008	5,210	595,332
2009	7,492	554,115
2010	7,456	566,834
2011	5,948	601,708
2012	5,581	643,723
2013	3,537	652,427
2014	7,248	674,754
2015	6,049	668,771
2016	4,580	641,365
2017	1,402	645,975
2018	-961	648,319
2019	-3,416	652,130
2020	-7,067	595,873
2021	-13,444	456,411
2022	-6,385	603,636
2023	-7,007	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Moldova vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in Moldova, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Moldova	South Africa
1985	62	208
1986	60	200
1987	56	192
1988	53	184
1989	52	177
1990	53	170
1991	53	162
1992	55	152
1993	55	145
1994	56	133
1995	54	125
1996	53	150
1997	52	152
1998	48	152
1999	43	151
2000	38	175
2001	35	192
2002	31	225
2003	29	245
2004	28	259
2005	26	279
2006	25	283
2007	24	272
2008	23	272
2009	22	241
2010	20	226
2011	19	202
2012	19	194
2013	19	180
2014	20	162
2015	20	150
2016	21	141
2017	20	134
2018	20	128
2019	21	119
2020	29	118
2021	24	191
2022	19	129
2023	19	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.47% in Moldova 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
	Moldova	South Africa
1971	6.39%	-
1972	6.2%	-
1973	6.03%	-
1974	5.86%	13.2%
1975	5.68%	12.5%
1976	5.53%	11.8%
1977	5.38%	11.1%
1978	5.23%	10.5%
1979	5.08%	9.88%
1980	4.93%	9.35%
1981	4.78%	8.84%
1982	4.61%	8.39%
1983	4.41%	7.98%
1984	4.2%	7.6%
1985	4%	7.24%
1986	3.8%	6.89%
1987	3.62%	6.56%
1988	3.48%	6.26%
1989	3.38%	6.01%
1990	3.35%	5.82%
1991	3.39%	5.7%
1992	3.48%	5.66%
1993	3.62%	5.7%
1994	3.75%	5.82%
1995	3.84%	5.95%
1996	3.85%	6.11%
1997	3.78%	6.29%
1998	3.62%	6.56%
1999	3.4%	6.85%
2000	3.13%	7.11%
2001	2.85%	7.43%
2002	2.58%	7.69%
2003	2.34%	7.93%
2004	2.16%	8.1%
2005	2.01%	8.03%
2006	1.91%	7.75%
2007	1.83%	7.19%
2008	1.77%	6.42%
2009	1.73%	5.7%
2010	1.69%	5%
2011	1.66%	4.5%
2012	1.63%	4.25%
2013	1.6%	4.1%
2014	1.58%	3.96%
2015	1.55%	3.82%
2016	1.53%	3.68%
2017	1.52%	3.58%
2018	1.51%	3.49%
2019	1.5%	3.45%
2020	1.49%	3.41%
2021	1.48%	3.41%
2022	1.48%	3.44%
2023	1.47%	3.47%