Fertility & birth rates in North Korea and Poland

Fertility rate in North Korea vs Poland chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in North Korea was 1.78 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.16 in Poland in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check North Korea vs Poland population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	North Korea	Poland
1960	3.57	2.98
1961	3.26	2.83
1962	3.41	2.72
1963	3.63	2.7
1964	3.55	2.57
1965	3.56	2.52
1966	3.71	2.34
1967	4.05	2.33
1968	3.87	2.24
1969	3.86	2.2
1970	3.85	2.2
1971	3.74	2.25
1972	3.89	2.24
1973	3.35	2.26
1974	3.14	2.26
1975	3.05	2.27
1976	2.84	2.3
1977	2.77	2.23
1978	2.79	2.21
1979	2.85	2.28
1980	2.84	2.28
1981	2.92	2.24
1982	2.85	2.34
1983	2.78	2.42
1984	2.71	2.37
1985	2.65	2.33
1986	2.59	2.22
1987	2.53	2.15
1988	2.47	2.13
1989	2.41	2.08
1990	2.39	2.06
1991	2.35	2.07
1992	2.29	1.95
1993	2.22	1.87
1994	2.18	1.81
1995	2.15	1.62
1996	2.09	1.59
1997	2.03	1.51
1998	1.99	1.44
1999	1.97	1.37
2000	1.94	1.37
2001	1.94	1.31
2002	1.92	1.25
2003	1.91	1.22
2004	1.9	1.23
2005	1.87	1.24
2006	1.94	1.27
2007	1.94	1.31
2008	1.97	1.39
2009	1.91	1.4
2010	1.89	1.41
2011	1.88	1.33
2012	1.88	1.33
2013	1.88	1.29
2014	1.87	1.32
2015	1.86	1.32
2016	1.86	1.39
2017	1.85	1.48
2018	1.83	1.46
2019	1.83	1.44
2020	1.82	1.39
2021	1.81	1.33
2022	1.8	1.29
2023	1.78	1.16
2024	1.78	1.16
2025	1.77	1.17
2026	1.75	1.17
2027	1.74	1.17
2028	1.73	1.18
2029	1.73	1.18
2030	1.72	1.19
2031	1.72	1.19
2032	1.71	1.19
2033	1.71	1.2
2034	1.71	1.2
2035	1.7	1.21
2036	1.7	1.21
2037	1.7	1.21
2038	1.69	1.21
2039	1.69	1.22
2040	1.69	1.22
2041	1.69	1.22
2042	1.69	1.22
2043	1.69	1.23
2044	1.68	1.23
2045	1.68	1.24
2046	1.68	1.24
2047	1.68	1.24
2048	1.67	1.24
2049	1.67	1.24
2050	1.67	1.25

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	North Korea	Poland
1960	37.5%	33.4%
1961	37%	33.4%
1962	36.6%	33%
1963	36.5%	32.5%
1964	36.6%	31.9%
1965	36.7%	31.1%
1966	37.3%	30.3%
1967	38.3%	29.5%
1968	39.2%	28.6%
1969	39.8%	27.8%
1970	40.1%	26.9%
1971	40.3%	26.1%
1972	40.2%	25.4%
1973	39.8%	24.8%
1974	39.3%	24.3%
1975	38.8%	24%
1976	38.3%	24%
1977	37.7%	24%
1978	36.9%	24%
1979	36%	24.1%
1980	35.1%	24.3%
1981	34.2%	24.5%
1982	33.1%	24.7%
1983	32%	25%
1984	30.9%	25.3%
1985	29.9%	25.5%
1986	29%	25.6%
1987	28%	25.6%
1988	27.3%	25.5%
1989	26.8%	25.3%
1990	26.5%	25%
1991	26.4%	24.6%
1992	26.3%	24.3%
1993	26.4%	23.9%
1994	26.4%	23.4%
1995	26.4%	22.8%
1996	26.3%	22.2%
1997	26.2%	21.6%
1998	26%	20.9%
1999	25.8%	20.2%
2000	25.6%	19.4%
2001	25.3%	18.7%
2002	25%	18.1%
2003	24.6%	17.5%
2004	24.3%	17%
2005	23.9%	16.5%
2006	23.4%	16%
2007	23%	15.7%
2008	22.5%	15.4%
2009	22.1%	15.2%
2010	21.6%	15.1%
2011	21.2%	15.2%
2012	20.8%	15.1%
2013	20.4%	15.1%
2014	20.1%	15.1%
2015	19.8%	15.1%
2016	19.6%	15.1%
2017	19.4%	15.2%
2018	19.2%	15.3%
2019	19.1%	15.4%
2020	19.1%	15.5%
2021	19.1%	15.5%
2022	19%	15.3%
2023	19%	15.1%
2024	18.9%	14.8%
2025	18.9%	14.5%
2026	18.9%	14.1%
2027	18.8%	13.8%
2028	18.7%	13.5%
2029	18.6%	13.2%
2030	18.5%	13%
2031	18.3%	12.7%
2032	18.1%	12.4%
2033	17.9%	12.1%
2034	17.6%	11.8%
2035	17.4%	11.5%
2036	17.1%	11.3%
2037	16.8%	11.2%
2038	16.6%	11.1%
2039	16.3%	11.1%
2040	16.1%	11.1%
2041	15.9%	11%
2042	15.7%	11.1%
2043	15.5%	11.1%
2044	15.4%	11.1%
2045	15.3%	11.2%
2046	15.2%	11.3%
2047	15.2%	11.3%
2048	15.2%	11.4%
2049	15.2%	11.5%
2050	15.2%	11.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.9% of the population in North Korea and 14.8% in Poland in 2024, compared to 26.5% and 25% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of North Korea and Poland compared.

Natural population change in North Korea vs Poland by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.42% in North Korea and -0.18% in Poland. 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
	North Korea	Poland
1960	277,717	444,562
1961	257,788	398,521
1962	286,534	360,671
1963	321,805	359,330
1964	323,623	326,965
1965	335,587	314,450
1966	363,882	297,801
1967	414,632	275,089
1968	399,837	280,963
1969	404,189	270,151
1970	406,129	280,913
1971	393,220	278,660
1972	411,997	314,028
1973	338,600	320,229
1974	306,902	346,893
1975	288,966	350,356
1976	255,841	367,612
1977	242,870	353,828
1978	243,533	339,166
1979	251,409	366,571
1980	255,206	348,627
1981	273,800	351,806
1982	276,332	369,551
1983	279,046	373,032
1984	282,987	332,137
1985	287,714	297,615
1986	293,227	258,448
1987	296,030	226,008
1988	299,305	215,599
1989	303,078	182,215
1990	312,460	160,066
1991	320,551	141,511
1992	324,002	118,928
1993	320,880	103,846
1994	320,861	96,357
1995	233,381	46,314
1996	226,095	42,487
1997	211,325	34,785
1998	197,589	19,332
1999	181,613	0
2000	161,591	11,478
2001	143,321	3,825
2002	119,504	-3,823
2003	178,775	-15,281
2004	155,838	-7,637
2005	132,765	-3,817
2006	129,171	3,814
2007	120,521	11,436
2008	122,015	34,313
2009	111,530	30,521
2010	112,443	38,043
2011	114,798	11,419
2012	118,773	0
2013	122,519	-19,020
2014	127,078	0
2015	127,365	-26,590
2016	125,048	-3,797
2017	120,181	0
2018	113,164	-26,582
2019	106,208	-34,169
2020	95,920	-120,050
2021	99,710	-184,907
2022	96,495	-143,605
2023	86,203	-135,743

Maternal mortality chart: North Korea vs Poland

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 67 deaths per 100,000 live births in North Korea, compared to 2 deaths in Poland.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	North Korea	Poland
1985	76	19
1986	68	19
1987	62	18
1988	55	18
1989	49	18
1990	43	18
1991	38	18
1992	37	16
1993	46	15
1994	57	14
1995	127	12
1996	128	11
1997	128	10
1998	129	9
1999	129	8
2000	129	7
2001	130	6
2002	131	5
2003	76	5
2004	77	4
2005	78	4
2006	80	4
2007	80	3
2008	79	3
2009	78	3
2010	77	3
2011	76	2
2012	76	2
2013	75	2
2014	73	2
2015	72	2
2016	71	2
2017	70	2
2018	69	2
2019	66	2
2020	66	3
2021	72	2
2022	67	2
2023	67	2

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.8% in North Korea and 0.44% in Poland. 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
	North Korea	Poland
1960	11.6%	6.51%
1961	11.2%	6.02%
1962	10.8%	5.6%
1963	10.4%	5.23%
1964	9.92%	4.89%
1965	9.46%	4.57%
1966	8.96%	4.29%
1967	8.45%	4.06%
1968	7.94%	3.89%
1969	7.45%	3.75%
1970	6.99%	3.59%
1971	6.58%	3.42%
1972	6.2%	3.24%
1973	5.86%	3.06%
1974	5.56%	2.9%
1975	5.28%	2.79%
1976	5.03%	2.7%
1977	4.8%	2.62%
1978	4.59%	2.54%
1979	4.4%	2.47%
1980	4.22%	2.4%
1981	4.05%	2.33%
1982	3.91%	2.26%
1983	3.8%	2.19%
1984	3.71%	2.11%
1985	3.68%	2.03%
1986	3.68%	1.96%
1987	3.78%	1.89%
1988	3.83%	1.84%
1989	3.95%	1.79%
1990	4.07%	1.74%
1991	4.18%	1.69%
1992	4.25%	1.65%
1993	4.27%	1.6%
1994	4.25%	1.53%
1995	10.8%	1.43%
1996	10.6%	1.32%
1997	10.5%	1.2%
1998	10.3%	1.09%
1999	10.2%	1%
2000	10%	0.93%
2001	9.9%	0.88%
2002	9.78%	0.84%
2003	3.45%	0.81%
2004	3.38%	0.78%
2005	3.33%	0.76%
2006	3.28%	0.73%
2007	3.24%	0.7%
2008	3.1%	0.67%
2009	3%	0.63%
2010	2.87%	0.6%
2011	2.72%	0.57%
2012	2.57%	0.54%
2013	2.41%	0.52%
2014	2.26%	0.5%
2015	2.14%	0.49%
2016	2.06%	0.48%
2017	1.91%	0.46%
2018	1.84%	0.45%
2019	1.77%	0.44%
2020	1.74%	0.44%
2021	1.74%	0.44%
2022	1.77%	0.44%
2023	1.8%	0.44%