Fertility & birth rates in North Korea and Somalia

Fertility rate in North Korea vs Somalia 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 6.13 in Somalia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check North Korea vs Somalia 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	Somalia
1960	3.57	7.25
1961	3.26	7.25
1962	3.41	7.26
1963	3.63	7.26
1964	3.55	7.26
1965	3.56	7.26
1966	3.71	7.26
1967	4.05	7.25
1968	3.87	7.23
1969	3.86	7.21
1970	3.85	7.18
1971	3.74	7.15
1972	3.89	7.12
1973	3.35	7.09
1974	3.14	7.06
1975	3.05	7.03
1976	2.84	7.02
1977	2.77	7
1978	2.79	7.13
1979	2.85	7.16
1980	2.84	7.18
1981	2.92	7.23
1982	2.85	7.25
1983	2.78	7.28
1984	2.71	7.3
1985	2.65	7.33
1986	2.59	7.35
1987	2.53	7.37
1988	2.47	7.4
1989	2.41	7.42
1990	2.39	7.44
1991	2.35	7.47
1992	2.29	7.5
1993	2.22	7.53
1994	2.18	7.54
1995	2.15	7.58
1996	2.09	7.62
1997	2.03	7.66
1998	1.99	7.66
1999	1.97	7.66
2000	1.94	7.65
2001	1.94	7.64
2002	1.92	7.63
2003	1.91	7.6
2004	1.9	7.57
2005	1.87	7.53
2006	1.94	7.49
2007	1.94	7.46
2008	1.97	7.42
2009	1.91	7.38
2010	1.89	7.32
2011	1.88	7.27
2012	1.88	7.21
2013	1.88	7.14
2014	1.87	7.06
2015	1.86	6.98
2016	1.86	6.88
2017	1.85	6.77
2018	1.83	6.66
2019	1.83	6.56
2020	1.82	6.45
2021	1.81	6.35
2022	1.8	6.26
2023	1.78	6.13
2024	1.78	6.01
2025	1.77	5.91
2026	1.75	5.8
2027	1.74	5.68
2028	1.73	5.58
2029	1.73	5.47
2030	1.72	5.35
2031	1.72	5.25
2032	1.71	5.14
2033	1.71	5.04
2034	1.71	4.94
2035	1.7	4.84
2036	1.7	4.74
2037	1.7	4.63
2038	1.69	4.52
2039	1.69	4.44
2040	1.69	4.35
2041	1.69	4.26
2042	1.69	4.16
2043	1.69	4.07
2044	1.68	3.99
2045	1.68	3.91
2046	1.68	3.84
2047	1.68	3.78
2048	1.67	3.71
2049	1.67	3.65
2050	1.67	3.6

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	North Korea	Somalia
1960	37.5%	44.4%
1961	37%	44.7%
1962	36.6%	44.8%
1963	36.5%	45%
1964	36.6%	45.1%
1965	36.7%	45.1%
1966	37.3%	44.9%
1967	38.3%	44.8%
1968	39.2%	44.7%
1969	39.8%	44.6%
1970	40.1%	44.5%
1971	40.3%	44.5%
1972	40.2%	44.4%
1973	39.8%	44.4%
1974	39.3%	44.4%
1975	38.8%	44.3%
1976	38.3%	44.3%
1977	37.7%	44.3%
1978	36.9%	44.4%
1979	36%	44.5%
1980	35.1%	44.6%
1981	34.2%	44.8%
1982	33.1%	45%
1983	32%	45.2%
1984	30.9%	45.4%
1985	29.9%	45.6%
1986	29%	45.8%
1987	28%	46%
1988	27.3%	46.3%
1989	26.8%	46.7%
1990	26.5%	47%
1991	26.4%	47%
1992	26.3%	46.5%
1993	26.4%	46.4%
1994	26.4%	46.5%
1995	26.4%	46.7%
1996	26.3%	46.9%
1997	26.2%	47%
1998	26%	47.1%
1999	25.8%	47.2%
2000	25.6%	47.4%
2001	25.3%	47.5%
2002	25%	47.6%
2003	24.6%	47.7%
2004	24.3%	47.9%
2005	23.9%	48.2%
2006	23.4%	48.6%
2007	23%	48.9%
2008	22.5%	48.9%
2009	22.1%	48.8%
2010	21.6%	48.7%
2011	21.2%	48.3%
2012	20.8%	47.9%
2013	20.4%	47.8%
2014	20.1%	47.7%
2015	19.8%	47.6%
2016	19.6%	47.5%
2017	19.4%	47.4%
2018	19.2%	47.3%
2019	19.1%	47.1%
2020	19.1%	47%
2021	19.1%	47%
2022	19%	46.8%
2023	19%	46.7%
2024	18.9%	46.6%
2025	18.9%	46.6%
2026	18.9%	46.5%
2027	18.8%	46.4%
2028	18.7%	46.1%
2029	18.6%	45.8%
2030	18.5%	45.4%
2031	18.3%	45.1%
2032	18.1%	44.7%
2033	17.9%	44.3%
2034	17.6%	43.9%
2035	17.4%	43.5%
2036	17.1%	43.1%
2037	16.8%	42.6%
2038	16.6%	42.1%
2039	16.3%	41.7%
2040	16.1%	41.2%
2041	15.9%	40.8%
2042	15.7%	40.3%
2043	15.5%	39.9%
2044	15.4%	39.4%
2045	15.3%	39%
2046	15.2%	38.6%
2047	15.2%	38.2%
2048	15.2%	37.8%
2049	15.2%	37.4%
2050	15.2%	37%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.9% of the population in North Korea and 46.6% in Somalia in 2024, compared to 26.5% and 47% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of North Korea and Somalia compared.

Natural population change in North Korea vs Somalia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.42% in North Korea and +3.34% in Somalia. 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	Somalia
1960	277,717	73,850
1961	257,788	75,513
1962	286,534	77,737
1963	321,805	79,859
1964	323,623	82,042
1965	335,587	84,448
1966	363,882	86,930
1967	414,632	89,497
1968	399,837	92,208
1969	404,189	95,045
1970	406,129	98,025
1971	393,220	101,196
1972	411,997	104,493
1973	338,600	108,038
1974	306,902	104,813
1975	288,966	108,998
1976	255,841	113,319
1977	242,870	124,818
1978	243,533	132,689
1979	251,409	151,016
1980	255,206	174,790
1981	273,800	185,211
1982	276,332	182,793
1983	279,046	190,775
1984	282,987	199,017
1985	287,714	207,960
1986	293,227	218,416
1987	296,030	231,580
1988	299,305	215,599
1989	303,078	225,255
1990	312,460	225,162
1991	320,551	53,052
1992	324,002	57,495
1993	320,880	232,960
1994	320,861	246,950
1995	233,381	254,509
1996	226,095	264,807
1997	211,325	271,894
1998	197,589	284,779
1999	181,613	295,523
2000	161,591	306,651
2001	143,321	319,059
2002	119,504	331,215
2003	178,775	341,192
2004	155,838	351,959
2005	132,765	363,117
2006	129,171	372,597
2007	120,521	380,303
2008	122,015	394,258
2009	111,530	405,784
2010	112,443	385,571
2011	114,798	203,213
2012	118,773	399,468
2013	122,519	448,518
2014	127,078	464,481
2015	127,365	481,573
2016	125,048	495,132
2017	120,181	478,556
2018	113,164	514,244
2019	106,208	548,756
2020	95,920	561,311
2021	99,710	566,399
2022	96,495	551,450
2023	86,203	608,203

Maternal mortality chart: North Korea vs Somalia

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 563 deaths in Somalia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	North Korea	Somalia
1985	76	1,465
1986	68	1,452
1987	62	1,393
1988	55	1,423
1989	49	1,395
1990	43	1,358
1991	38	1,431
1992	37	1,339
1993	46	1,195
1994	57	1,254
1995	127	1,210
1996	128	1,225
1997	128	1,206
1998	129	1,177
1999	129	1,170
2000	129	1,150
2001	130	1,129
2002	131	1,121
2003	76	1,111
2004	77	1,104
2005	78	1,086
2006	80	1,085
2007	80	1,074
2008	79	1,035
2009	78	995
2010	77	1,062
2011	76	972
2012	76	894
2013	75	855
2014	73	816
2015	72	784
2016	71	754
2017	70	716
2018	69	727
2019	66	656
2020	66	655
2021	72	726
2022	67	622
2023	67	563

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.8% in North Korea and 10.4% in Somalia. 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	Somalia
1960	11.6%	-
1961	11.2%	-
1962	10.8%	-
1963	10.4%	-
1964	9.92%	-
1965	9.46%	-
1966	8.96%	-
1967	8.45%	-
1968	7.94%	-
1969	7.45%	-
1970	6.99%	-
1971	6.58%	-
1972	6.2%	-
1973	5.86%	-
1974	5.56%	-
1975	5.28%	-
1976	5.03%	-
1977	4.8%	-
1978	4.59%	-
1979	4.4%	-
1980	4.22%	-
1981	4.05%	-
1982	3.91%	20.1%
1983	3.8%	19.8%
1984	3.71%	19.5%
1985	3.68%	19.3%
1986	3.68%	19%
1987	3.78%	18.8%
1988	3.83%	18.6%
1989	3.95%	18.3%
1990	4.07%	18%
1991	4.18%	44.3%
1992	4.25%	45.6%
1993	4.27%	17.3%
1994	4.25%	17.2%
1995	10.8%	17.2%
1996	10.6%	17.2%
1997	10.5%	17.2%
1998	10.3%	17.2%
1999	10.2%	17.2%
2000	10%	17.2%
2001	9.9%	17.2%
2002	9.78%	17.2%
2003	3.45%	17.2%
2004	3.38%	17.2%
2005	3.33%	17.2%
2006	3.28%	17.2%
2007	3.24%	17%
2008	3.1%	16.6%
2009	3%	16.2%
2010	2.87%	18.6%
2011	2.72%	35.9%
2012	2.57%	18.4%
2013	2.41%	14.3%
2014	2.26%	13.8%
2015	2.14%	13.4%
2016	2.06%	13%
2017	1.91%	15.5%
2018	1.84%	13.6%
2019	1.77%	11.8%
2020	1.74%	11.4%
2021	1.74%	11.1%
2022	1.77%	14.3%
2023	1.8%	10.4%