Fertility & birth rates in Netherlands and South Korea

Fertility rate in Netherlands vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in the Netherlands was 1.43 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check the Netherlands vs South Korea population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Netherlands	South Korea
1960	3.12	5.99
1961	3.22	5.8
1962	3.18	5.56
1963	3.19	5.33
1964	3.17	5.07
1965	3.04	4.89
1966	2.9	4.78
1967	2.81	4.62
1968	2.72	4.51
1969	2.75	4.45
1970	2.57	4.53
1971	2.36	4.54
1972	2.15	4.12
1973	1.9	4.07
1974	1.77	3.77
1975	1.66	3.43
1976	1.63	3
1977	1.58	2.99
1978	1.58	2.64
1979	1.56	2.9
1980	1.6	2.82
1981	1.56	2.57
1982	1.5	2.39
1983	1.47	2.06
1984	1.49	1.74
1985	1.51	1.66
1986	1.55	1.58
1987	1.56	1.53
1988	1.55	1.55
1989	1.55	1.56
1990	1.62	1.57
1991	1.61	1.71
1992	1.59	1.76
1993	1.57	1.65
1994	1.57	1.66
1995	1.53	1.63
1996	1.53	1.57
1997	1.56	1.54
1998	1.63	1.46
1999	1.65	1.43
2000	1.72	1.48
2001	1.71	1.31
2002	1.73	1.18
2003	1.75	1.19
2004	1.72	1.16
2005	1.71	1.09
2006	1.72	1.13
2007	1.72	1.26
2008	1.77	1.19
2009	1.79	1.15
2010	1.79	1.23
2011	1.76	1.24
2012	1.72	1.3
2013	1.68	1.19
2014	1.71	1.21
2015	1.66	1.24
2016	1.66	1.17
2017	1.62	1.05
2018	1.59	0.98
2019	1.57	0.92
2020	1.54	0.84
2021	1.62	0.81
2022	1.49	0.78
2023	1.43	0.72
2024	1.43	0.73
2025	1.44	0.75
2026	1.44	0.76
2027	1.45	0.78
2028	1.45	0.79
2029	1.45	0.8
2030	1.46	0.82
2031	1.46	0.83
2032	1.47	0.84
2033	1.47	0.85
2034	1.48	0.86
2035	1.48	0.88
2036	1.48	0.89
2037	1.48	0.9
2038	1.48	0.91
2039	1.49	0.92
2040	1.49	0.93
2041	1.49	0.95
2042	1.5	0.96
2043	1.5	0.96
2044	1.5	0.97
2045	1.5	0.98
2046	1.5	0.99
2047	1.51	1
2048	1.51	1.01
2049	1.51	1.02
2050	1.51	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Netherlands	South Korea
1960	30%	41.3%
1961	29.7%	41.8%
1962	29.1%	42.3%
1963	28.7%	42.7%
1964	28.5%	43.1%
1965	28.3%	43.3%
1966	28.1%	43.5%
1967	27.8%	43.3%
1968	27.6%	43.1%
1969	27.5%	42.7%
1970	27.3%	42.1%
1971	27.1%	41.5%
1972	26.8%	41%
1973	26.4%	40.3%
1974	25.9%	39.5%
1975	25.3%	38.5%
1976	24.8%	37.5%
1977	24.2%	36.5%
1978	23.5%	35.6%
1979	22.9%	34.8%
1980	22.3%	34%
1981	21.8%	33.3%
1982	21.3%	32.7%
1983	20.7%	32%
1984	20.1%	31.2%
1985	19.5%	30.2%
1986	19.1%	29.2%
1987	18.7%	28.2%
1988	18.5%	27.3%
1989	18.4%	26.5%
1990	18.4%	25.8%
1991	18.4%	25.2%
1992	18.5%	24.7%
1993	18.5%	24.2%
1994	18.6%	23.7%
1995	18.6%	23.1%
1996	18.6%	22.5%
1997	18.6%	22%
1998	18.6%	21.6%
1999	18.7%	21.2%
2000	18.8%	21%
2001	18.8%	20.8%
2002	18.8%	20.5%
2003	18.7%	20.1%
2004	18.6%	19.7%
2005	18.5%	19.2%
2006	18.3%	18.7%
2007	18.1%	18.1%
2008	17.9%	17.5%
2009	17.7%	16.9%
2010	17.6%	16.4%
2011	17.4%	15.8%
2012	17.3%	15.2%
2013	17.1%	14.7%
2014	16.9%	14.2%
2015	16.6%	13.8%
2016	16.4%	13.4%
2017	16.2%	13%
2018	16%	12.7%
2019	15.8%	12.4%
2020	15.6%	12.1%
2021	15.5%	11.8%
2022	15.4%	11.4%
2023	15.2%	11%
2024	15%	10.6%
2025	14.9%	10.2%
2026	14.9%	9.82%
2027	14.8%	9.42%
2028	14.8%	9.06%
2029	14.8%	8.75%
2030	14.8%	8.43%
2031	14.8%	8.15%
2032	14.7%	7.94%
2033	14.7%	7.79%
2034	14.7%	7.7%
2035	14.7%	7.66%
2036	14.7%	7.65%
2037	14.6%	7.66%
2038	14.6%	7.68%
2039	14.6%	7.71%
2040	14.5%	7.73%
2041	14.5%	7.75%
2042	14.4%	7.76%
2043	14.4%	7.77%
2044	14.3%	7.78%
2045	14.2%	7.79%
2046	14.1%	7.8%
2047	14.1%	7.81%
2048	14%	7.82%
2049	13.9%	7.82%
2050	13.8%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 15% of the population in the Netherlands and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 18.4% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of the Netherlands and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Netherlands vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.08% in the Netherlands and +0.06% in South Korea. 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
	Netherlands	South Korea
1960	151,623	728,010
1961	159,450	730,173
1962	153,474	712,590
1963	154,361	685,824
1964	157,653	655,501
1965	146,308	641,090
1966	138,265	623,534
1967	138,580	692,169
1968	132,389	684,487
1969	139,082	694,227
1970	129,082	747,987
1971	116,112	789,185
1972	101,297	740,469
1973	84,668	699,115
1974	75,853	673,030
1975	64,232	603,300
1976	63,361	530,558
1977	63,739	578,947
1978	61,344	499,084
1979	63,172	623,068
1980	66,504	583,294
1981	62,688	631,189
1982	54,388	605,626
1983	51,722	514,844
1984	54,812	436,384
1985	55,069	416,219
1986	59,746	395,651
1987	64,526	378,758
1988	61,993	399,297
1989	59,396	403,266
1990	68,777	411,546
1991	69,321	467,594
1992	66,811	494,352
1993	58,103	477,302
1994	61,532	473,200
1995	54,106	468,967
1996	51,251	446,142
1997	56,198	422,773
1998	61,258	393,436
1999	60,086	368,272
2000	66,887	390,167
2001	62,580	312,643
2002	59,751	247,752
2003	58,411	244,251
2004	56,987	225,988
2005	50,592	187,920
2006	49,038	203,441
2007	49,145	248,286
2008	49,337	215,841
2009	51,244	197,231
2010	48,184	213,083
2011	45,072	214,728
2012	35,186	215,859
2013	30,248	166,415
2014	35,417	167,464
2015	23,716	163,248
2016	23,843	122,923
2017	18,844	71,907
2018	15,508	30,951
2019	17,345	10,353
2020	0	-31,101
2021	7,014	-56,947
2022	-1,770	-124,014
2023	-5,363	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Netherlands vs South Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in the Netherlands, compared to 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Netherlands	South Korea
1985	12	38
1986	12	35
1987	12	34
1988	12	31
1989	12	29
1990	12	28
1991	12	28
1992	12	26
1993	12	24
1994	12	23
1995	12	22
1996	12	20
1997	13	19
1998	12	18
1999	13	17
2000	13	15
2001	13	14
2002	13	13
2003	12	13
2004	11	12
2005	10	11
2006	9	10
2007	8	10
2008	8	9
2009	7	9
2010	6	8
2011	7	8
2012	6	8
2013	6	7
2014	5	7
2015	5	6
2016	5	6
2017	5	6
2018	5	5
2019	5	5
2020	4	12
2021	5	5
2022	4	7
2023	4	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.4% in the Netherlands and 0.28% in South Korea. 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
	Netherlands	South Korea
1960	2.08%	11.2%
1961	2.03%	10.6%
1962	1.97%	10.1%
1963	1.92%	9.67%
1964	1.88%	9.18%
1965	1.83%	8.68%
1966	1.79%	8.16%
1967	1.74%	7.62%
1968	1.69%	7.1%
1969	1.64%	6.59%
1970	1.58%	6.12%
1971	1.53%	5.71%
1972	1.47%	5.36%
1973	1.41%	5.07%
1974	1.36%	4.82%
1975	1.31%	4.61%
1976	1.26%	4.42%
1977	1.21%	4.23%
1978	1.16%	4.04%
1979	1.12%	3.84%
1980	1.09%	3.63%
1981	1.06%	3.4%
1982	1.04%	3.17%
1983	1.02%	2.93%
1984	0.99%	2.7%
1985	0.97%	2.46%
1986	0.95%	2.25%
1987	0.92%	2.05%
1988	0.89%	1.87%
1989	0.86%	1.71%
1990	0.83%	1.57%
1991	0.8%	1.44%
1992	0.77%	1.33%
1993	0.74%	1.23%
1994	0.71%	1.14%
1995	0.69%	1.05%
1996	0.67%	0.98%
1997	0.66%	0.91%
1998	0.64%	0.85%
1999	0.63%	0.8%
2000	0.62%	0.75%
2001	0.61%	0.71%
2002	0.59%	0.68%
2003	0.57%	0.64%
2004	0.55%	0.6%
2005	0.53%	0.56%
2006	0.51%	0.52%
2007	0.49%	0.48%
2008	0.47%	0.45%
2009	0.46%	0.43%
2010	0.44%	0.41%
2011	0.43%	0.4%
2012	0.42%	0.38%
2013	0.42%	0.37%
2014	0.41%	0.36%
2015	0.41%	0.35%
2016	0.41%	0.34%
2017	0.4%	0.33%
2018	0.4%	0.32%
2019	0.4%	0.31%
2020	0.4%	0.3%
2021	0.4%	0.29%
2022	0.4%	0.28%
2023	0.4%	0.28%