Fertility & birth rates in New Zealand and Sierra Leone

Fertility rate in New Zealand vs Sierra Leone chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in New Zealand was 1.56 children per woman in 2023, compared to 3.79 in Sierra Leone in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check New Zealand vs Sierra Leone population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	New Zealand	Sierra Leone
1960	4.24	6.18
1961	4.31	6.21
1962	4.19	6.22
1963	4.05	6.26
1964	3.8	6.29
1965	3.54	6.31
1966	3.41	6.35
1967	3.35	6.38
1968	3.34	6.39
1969	3.28	6.39
1970	3.17	6.41
1971	3.18	6.43
1972	3	6.45
1973	2.76	6.47
1974	2.58	6.53
1975	2.37	6.55
1976	2.27	6.55
1977	2.21	6.57
1978	2.07	6.59
1979	2.12	6.58
1980	2.03	6.56
1981	2.01	6.55
1982	1.95	6.56
1983	1.92	6.57
1984	1.93	6.59
1985	1.93	6.59
1986	1.96	6.6
1987	2.03	6.61
1988	2.1	6.59
1989	2.12	6.57
1990	2.18	6.57
1991	2.09	6.55
1992	2.06	6.56
1993	2.04	6.57
1994	1.98	6.56
1995	1.98	6.56
1996	1.96	6.55
1997	1.96	6.53
1998	1.89	6.5
1999	1.97	6.42
2000	1.98	6.36
2001	1.97	6.31
2002	1.89	6.23
2003	1.93	6.09
2004	1.98	5.92
2005	1.97	5.81
2006	2.01	5.74
2007	2.18	5.64
2008	2.19	5.56
2009	2.13	5.45
2010	2.17	5.33
2011	2.09	5.21
2012	2.1	5.06
2013	2.01	4.87
2014	1.92	4.7
2015	1.99	4.55
2016	1.87	4.47
2017	1.81	4.39
2018	1.71	4.29
2019	1.72	4.19
2020	1.61	4.08
2021	1.64	3.98
2022	1.66	3.88
2023	1.56	3.79
2024	1.55	3.7
2025	1.54	3.61
2026	1.53	3.53
2027	1.53	3.47
2028	1.52	3.37
2029	1.52	3.3
2030	1.52	3.23
2031	1.52	3.18
2032	1.52	3.12
2033	1.51	3.07
2034	1.51	3.02
2035	1.51	2.97
2036	1.51	2.92
2037	1.51	2.88
2038	1.51	2.84
2039	1.51	2.79
2040	1.51	2.76
2041	1.51	2.72
2042	1.51	2.68
2043	1.51	2.65
2044	1.51	2.62
2045	1.51	2.58
2046	1.51	2.55
2047	1.51	2.53
2048	1.51	2.5
2049	1.51	2.47
2050	1.51	2.45

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	New Zealand	Sierra Leone
1960	32.8%	38.2%
1961	33%	38.3%
1962	33%	38.3%
1963	32.9%	38.5%
1964	32.9%	38.8%
1965	32.7%	39.1%
1966	32.6%	39.4%
1967	32.5%	39.6%
1968	32.3%	39.9%
1969	32.2%	40.1%
1970	31.9%	40.3%
1971	31.7%	40.6%
1972	31.4%	40.7%
1973	31%	40.9%
1974	30.5%	41.1%
1975	30.1%	41.3%
1976	29.6%	41.4%
1977	29%	41.6%
1978	28.4%	41.7%
1979	27.8%	41.8%
1980	27.2%	41.9%
1981	26.7%	42%
1982	26.2%	42.1%
1983	25.6%	42.2%
1984	25.1%	42.3%
1985	24.6%	42.5%
1986	24.2%	42.6%
1987	23.8%	42.7%
1988	23.5%	42.8%
1989	23.3%	42.9%
1990	23.3%	42.9%
1991	23.2%	43%
1992	23.1%	43.1%
1993	23.1%	43.2%
1994	23.1%	43.3%
1995	23.1%	43.4%
1996	23%	43.5%
1997	23%	43.5%
1998	23%	43.6%
1999	22.9%	43.7%
2000	22.8%	43.8%
2001	22.6%	43.9%
2002	22.4%	43.9%
2003	22.1%	43.9%
2004	21.8%	43.9%
2005	21.5%	43.8%
2006	21.3%	43.7%
2007	21.1%	43.6%
2008	21%	43.5%
2009	20.9%	43.4%
2010	20.9%	43.2%
2011	20.8%	43%
2012	20.6%	42.8%
2013	20.4%	42.5%
2014	20.2%	42.2%
2015	19.9%	41.8%
2016	19.6%	41.4%
2017	19.5%	41%
2018	19.3%	40.6%
2019	19.2%	40.2%
2020	19%	39.8%
2021	18.9%	39.4%
2022	18.6%	39%
2023	18.4%	38.5%
2024	18.1%	38.1%
2025	17.9%	37.7%
2026	17.6%	37.2%
2027	17.4%	36.8%
2028	17.2%	36.3%
2029	17%	35.9%
2030	16.8%	35.5%
2031	16.6%	35.2%
2032	16.4%	34.8%
2033	16.3%	34.4%
2034	16.1%	34%
2035	16%	33.6%
2036	15.9%	33.2%
2037	15.8%	32.8%
2038	15.7%	32.4%
2039	15.6%	32%
2040	15.5%	31.6%
2041	15.4%	31.2%
2042	15.4%	30.9%
2043	15.4%	30.5%
2044	15.3%	30.2%
2045	15.3%	29.8%
2046	15.3%	29.5%
2047	15.3%	29.2%
2048	15.3%	28.8%
2049	15.2%	28.5%
2050	15.2%	28.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.1% of the population in New Zealand and 38.1% in Sierra Leone in 2024, compared to 23.3% and 42.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of New Zealand and Sierra Leone compared.

Natural population change in New Zealand vs Sierra Leone by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.51% in New Zealand and +2.31% in Sierra Leone. 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
	New Zealand	Sierra Leone
1960	41,791	38,192
1961	43,482	40,022
1962	42,865	41,603
1963	42,027	43,569
1964	39,375	45,487
1965	36,982	47,223
1966	36,151	49,486
1967	37,974	51,734
1968	37,594	53,126
1969	38,098	54,768
1970	37,101	56,513
1971	40,000	58,484
1972	38,244	60,279
1973	35,239	62,443
1974	33,896	65,357
1975	31,355	67,560
1976	29,456	69,506
1977	28,020	71,663
1978	26,156	74,130
1979	26,675	75,992
1980	23,658	77,932
1981	25,374	80,111
1982	24,207	82,457
1983	24,315	84,628
1984	26,043	87,072
1985	24,126	88,869
1986	25,549	90,902
1987	27,603	94,235
1988	29,846	96,344
1989	30,749	98,298
1990	33,298	100,778
1991	33,518	105,477
1992	32,067	103,251
1993	31,685	103,317
1994	30,372	101,486
1995	29,828	100,885
1996	28,997	104,140
1997	30,137	105,433
1998	29,146	103,906
1999	28,916	102,295
2000	29,897	110,754
2001	27,939	116,647
2002	25,941	126,429
2003	28,150	130,312
2004	29,634	132,661
2005	30,674	137,234
2006	30,924	144,127
2007	35,480	145,740
2008	35,143	149,855
2009	33,560	152,669
2010	35,458	155,338
2011	31,302	158,858
2012	31,077	160,915
2013	29,096	161,265
2014	26,196	160,137
2015	29,408	162,275
2016	28,237	168,784
2017	26,282	173,259
2018	24,797	178,772
2019	25,344	181,068
2020	24,993	181,015
2021	23,767	183,326
2022	20,264	186,625
2023	19,039	188,788

Maternal mortality chart: New Zealand vs Sierra Leone

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 7 deaths per 100,000 live births in New Zealand, compared to 354 deaths in Sierra Leone.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	New Zealand	Sierra Leone
1985	19	1,506
1986	18	1,530
1987	19	1,533
1988	19	1,549
1989	18	1,575
1990	18	1,572
1991	16	1,699
1992	15	1,681
1993	14	1,696
1994	13	1,755
1995	14	1,777
1996	14	1,726
1997	13	1,721
1998	12	1,753
1999	12	1,731
2000	11	1,603
2001	10	1,518
2002	11	1,492
2003	11	1,433
2004	11	1,366
2005	11	1,294
2006	10	1,168
2007	10	1,132
2008	10	1,093
2009	10	1,054
2010	10	1,018
2011	10	967
2012	9	915
2013	8	842
2014	7	821
2015	8	730
2016	8	633
2017	8	578
2018	7	491
2019	8	464
2020	8	422
2021	8	403
2022	23	370
2023	7	354

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.47% in New Zealand and 9.43% in Sierra Leone. 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
	New Zealand	Sierra Leone
1960	2.78%	39.1%
1961	2.68%	38.5%
1962	2.58%	38%
1963	2.48%	37.4%
1964	2.39%	36.8%
1965	2.31%	36.2%
1966	2.25%	35.6%
1967	2.2%	35%
1968	2.16%	34.5%
1969	2.12%	33.9%
1970	2.08%	33.4%
1971	2.03%	32.9%
1972	1.98%	32.3%
1973	1.94%	31.9%
1974	1.88%	31.4%
1975	1.83%	30.9%
1976	1.77%	30.5%
1977	1.71%	30%
1978	1.66%	29.6%
1979	1.61%	29.2%
1980	1.56%	28.9%
1981	1.52%	28.5%
1982	1.48%	28.1%
1983	1.45%	27.8%
1984	1.41%	27.5%
1985	1.38%	27.2%
1986	1.34%	26.9%
1987	1.29%	26.6%
1988	1.24%	26.4%
1989	1.18%	26.2%
1990	1.12%	25.9%
1991	1.06%	25.7%
1992	1%	25.5%
1993	0.95%	25.3%
1994	0.91%	25%
1995	0.87%	24.7%
1996	0.84%	24.3%
1997	0.81%	23.9%
1998	0.78%	23.4%
1999	0.76%	22.9%
2000	0.74%	22.4%
2001	0.72%	21.8%
2002	0.7%	21.3%
2003	0.69%	20.7%
2004	0.67%	20.1%
2005	0.66%	19.4%
2006	0.65%	18.8%
2007	0.65%	18.1%
2008	0.64%	17.3%
2009	0.63%	16.6%
2010	0.62%	15.9%
2011	0.61%	15.2%
2012	0.6%	14.5%
2013	0.59%	13.9%
2014	0.57%	13.7%
2015	0.56%	13.8%
2016	0.55%	12.3%
2017	0.53%	11.8%
2018	0.52%	11.3%
2019	0.51%	10.9%
2020	0.5%	10.5%
2021	0.49%	10.1%
2022	0.48%	9.77%
2023	0.47%	9.43%