Fertility & birth rates in North Korea and United Kingdom

Fertility rate in North Korea vs United Kingdom 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 1.56 in the United Kingdom in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check North Korea vs the United Kingdom 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	United Kingdom
1960	3.57	2.69
1961	3.26	2.78
1962	3.41	2.86
1963	3.63	2.88
1964	3.55	2.93
1965	3.56	2.86
1966	3.71	2.78
1967	4.05	2.68
1968	3.87	2.6
1969	3.86	2.51
1970	3.85	2.44
1971	3.74	2.41
1972	3.89	2.2
1973	3.35	2.04
1974	3.14	1.92
1975	3.05	1.81
1976	2.84	1.74
1977	2.77	1.69
1978	2.79	1.75
1979	2.85	1.86
1980	2.84	1.9
1981	2.92	1.82
1982	2.85	1.78
1983	2.78	1.77
1984	2.71	1.77
1985	2.65	1.79
1986	2.59	1.78
1987	2.53	1.81
1988	2.47	1.82
1989	2.41	1.79
1990	2.39	1.83
1991	2.35	1.82
1992	2.29	1.79
1993	2.22	1.76
1994	2.18	1.74
1995	2.15	1.71
1996	2.09	1.73
1997	2.03	1.72
1998	1.99	1.71
1999	1.97	1.68
2000	1.94	1.64
2001	1.94	1.63
2002	1.92	1.63
2003	1.91	1.7
2004	1.9	1.75
2005	1.87	1.76
2006	1.94	1.82
2007	1.94	1.86
2008	1.97	1.91
2009	1.91	1.89
2010	1.89	1.92
2011	1.88	1.91
2012	1.88	1.92
2013	1.88	1.83
2014	1.87	1.81
2015	1.86	1.8
2016	1.86	1.79
2017	1.85	1.74
2018	1.83	1.68
2019	1.83	1.63
2020	1.82	1.57
2021	1.81	1.58
2022	1.8	1.56
2023	1.78	1.56
2024	1.78	1.55
2025	1.77	1.54
2026	1.75	1.53
2027	1.74	1.53
2028	1.73	1.53
2029	1.73	1.52
2030	1.72	1.52
2031	1.72	1.52
2032	1.71	1.53
2033	1.71	1.53
2034	1.71	1.53
2035	1.7	1.53
2036	1.7	1.53
2037	1.7	1.53
2038	1.69	1.53
2039	1.69	1.53
2040	1.69	1.53
2041	1.69	1.54
2042	1.69	1.54
2043	1.69	1.54
2044	1.68	1.54
2045	1.68	1.54
2046	1.68	1.54
2047	1.68	1.54
2048	1.67	1.54
2049	1.67	1.55
2050	1.67	1.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	North Korea	United Kingdom
1960	37.5%	23.3%
1961	37%	23.3%
1962	36.6%	23.2%
1963	36.5%	23.2%
1964	36.6%	23.3%
1965	36.7%	23.4%
1966	37.3%	23.5%
1967	38.3%	23.7%
1968	39.2%	23.9%
1969	39.8%	24%
1970	40.1%	24.1%
1971	40.3%	24.1%
1972	40.2%	24%
1973	39.8%	23.9%
1974	39.3%	23.6%
1975	38.8%	23.3%
1976	38.3%	22.9%
1977	37.7%	22.4%
1978	36.9%	21.9%
1979	36%	21.4%
1980	35.1%	21%
1981	34.2%	20.6%
1982	33.1%	20.2%
1983	32%	19.8%
1984	30.9%	19.5%
1985	29.9%	19.3%
1986	29%	19.1%
1987	28%	18.9%
1988	27.3%	18.9%
1989	26.8%	19.1%
1990	26.5%	19.1%
1991	26.4%	19.3%
1992	26.3%	19.4%
1993	26.4%	19.5%
1994	26.4%	19.6%
1995	26.4%	19.5%
1996	26.3%	19.4%
1997	26.2%	19.3%
1998	26%	19.3%
1999	25.8%	19.2%
2000	25.6%	18.9%
2001	25.3%	18.7%
2002	25%	18.5%
2003	24.6%	18.4%
2004	24.3%	18.3%
2005	23.9%	18.2%
2006	23.4%	18%
2007	23%	17.9%
2008	22.5%	17.8%
2009	22.1%	17.8%
2010	21.6%	17.8%
2011	21.2%	17.7%
2012	20.8%	17.8%
2013	20.4%	17.8%
2014	20.1%	17.8%
2015	19.8%	17.9%
2016	19.6%	18%
2017	19.4%	18%
2018	19.2%	18.1%
2019	19.1%	18%
2020	19.1%	18%
2021	19.1%	17.8%
2022	19%	17.6%
2023	19%	17.4%
2024	18.9%	17.2%
2025	18.9%	17%
2026	18.9%	16.7%
2027	18.8%	16.5%
2028	18.7%	16.2%
2029	18.6%	16%
2030	18.5%	15.7%
2031	18.3%	15.5%
2032	18.1%	15.3%
2033	17.9%	15.2%
2034	17.6%	15.1%
2035	17.4%	15%
2036	17.1%	14.9%
2037	16.8%	14.9%
2038	16.6%	14.8%
2039	16.3%	14.8%
2040	16.1%	14.8%
2041	15.9%	14.8%
2042	15.7%	14.8%
2043	15.5%	14.9%
2044	15.4%	14.9%
2045	15.3%	14.9%
2046	15.2%	15%
2047	15.2%	15%
2048	15.2%	15%
2049	15.2%	15%
2050	15.2%	15.1%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.9% of the population in North Korea and 17.2% in the United Kingdom in 2024, compared to 26.5% and 19.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of North Korea and the United Kingdom compared.

Natural population change in North Korea vs United Kingdom by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.42% in North Korea and +0.16% in the United Kingdom. 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	United Kingdom
1960	277,717	314,400
1961	257,788	311,519
1962	286,534	340,800
1963	321,805	337,995
1964	323,623	405,000
1965	335,587	364,132
1966	363,882	333,356
1967	414,632	346,145
1968	399,837	292,622
1969	404,189	260,577
1970	406,129	244,918
1971	393,220	257,123
1972	411,997	162,650
1973	338,600	112,389
1974	306,902	67,476
1975	288,966	33,735
1976	255,841	-5,621
1977	242,870	0
1978	243,533	16,859
1979	251,409	61,872
1980	255,206	95,734
1981	273,800	73,234
1982	276,332	56,314
1983	279,046	61,966
1984	282,987	84,633
1985	287,714	79,170
1986	293,227	90,690
1987	296,030	136,325
1988	299,305	136,628
1989	303,078	119,861
1990	312,460	154,569
1991	320,551	143,562
1992	324,002	149,709
1993	320,880	103,893
1994	320,861	127,304
1995	233,381	87,028
1996	226,095	98,884
1997	211,325	99,138
1998	197,589	87,730
1999	181,613	64,551
2000	161,591	70,671
2001	143,321	65,032
2002	119,504	65,308
2003	178,775	89,471
2004	155,838	131,974
2005	132,765	144,963
2006	129,171	176,455
2007	120,521	196,232
2008	122,015	216,325
2009	111,530	230,422
2010	112,443	251,066
2011	114,798	259,361
2012	118,773	248,473
2013	122,519	198,830
2014	127,078	206,784
2015	127,365	175,738
2016	125,048	177,139
2017	120,181	145,125
2018	113,164	119,321
2019	106,208	108,342
2020	95,920	-4,272
2021	99,710	30,612
2022	96,495	39,751
2023	86,203	34,589

Maternal mortality chart: North Korea vs United Kingdom

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 8 deaths in the United Kingdom.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	North Korea	United Kingdom
1985	76	2
1986	68	2
1987	62	3
1988	55	4
1989	49	5
1990	43	6
1991	38	7
1992	37	7
1993	46	8
1994	57	9
1995	127	9
1996	128	8
1997	128	9
1998	129	10
1999	129	11
2000	129	12
2001	130	13
2002	131	13
2003	76	14
2004	77	13
2005	78	12
2006	80	12
2007	80	11
2008	79	11
2009	78	11
2010	77	10
2011	76	10
2012	76	9
2013	75	9
2014	73	9
2015	72	9
2016	71	9
2017	70	9
2018	69	9
2019	66	9
2020	66	14
2021	72	13
2022	67	15
2023	67	8

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.8% in North Korea and 0.45% in the United Kingdom. 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	United Kingdom
1960	11.6%	2.66%
1961	11.2%	2.61%
1962	10.8%	2.56%
1963	10.4%	2.49%
1964	9.92%	2.42%
1965	9.46%	2.34%
1966	8.96%	2.28%
1967	8.45%	2.22%
1968	7.94%	2.18%
1969	7.45%	2.14%
1970	6.99%	2.1%
1971	6.58%	2.06%
1972	6.2%	2%
1973	5.86%	1.94%
1974	5.56%	1.87%
1975	5.28%	1.8%
1976	5.03%	1.72%
1977	4.8%	1.64%
1978	4.59%	1.57%
1979	4.4%	1.49%
1980	4.22%	1.41%
1981	4.05%	1.34%
1982	3.91%	1.27%
1983	3.8%	1.22%
1984	3.71%	1.17%
1985	3.68%	1.14%
1986	3.68%	1.11%
1987	3.78%	1.08%
1988	3.83%	1.04%
1989	3.95%	0.99%
1990	4.07%	0.93%
1991	4.18%	0.87%
1992	4.25%	0.82%
1993	4.27%	0.77%
1994	4.25%	0.74%
1995	10.8%	0.72%
1996	10.6%	0.7%
1997	10.5%	0.69%
1998	10.3%	0.68%
1999	10.2%	0.67%
2000	10%	0.65%
2001	9.9%	0.64%
2002	9.78%	0.63%
2003	3.45%	0.63%
2004	3.38%	0.61%
2005	3.33%	0.6%
2006	3.28%	0.59%
2007	3.24%	0.58%
2008	3.1%	0.56%
2009	3%	0.54%
2010	2.87%	0.52%
2011	2.72%	0.5%
2012	2.57%	0.48%
2013	2.41%	0.46%
2014	2.26%	0.45%
2015	2.14%	0.45%
2016	2.06%	0.44%
2017	1.91%	0.44%
2018	1.84%	0.44%
2019	1.77%	0.44%
2020	1.74%	0.44%
2021	1.74%	0.44%
2022	1.77%	0.45%
2023	1.8%	0.45%