Fertility & birth rates in Panama and South Africa

Fertility rate in Panama vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Panama was 2.12 children per woman in 2023, compared to 2.22 in South Africa in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Panama vs South Africa population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Panama	South Africa
1960	5.83	6.11
1961	5.87	6.08
1962	5.87	6.05
1963	5.87	6.01
1964	5.81	5.96
1965	5.73	5.89
1966	5.65	5.91
1967	5.53	5.85
1968	5.41	5.78
1969	5.29	5.72
1970	5.18	5.63
1971	5.05	5.57
1972	4.91	5.49
1973	4.74	5.41
1974	4.58	5.3
1975	4.41	5.19
1976	4.26	5.07
1977	4.12	4.94
1978	3.98	4.85
1979	3.88	4.82
1980	3.8	4.78
1981	3.72	4.71
1982	3.66	4.7
1983	3.6	4.63
1984	3.52	4.57
1985	3.43	4.5
1986	3.34	4.41
1987	3.25	4.35
1988	3.17	4.18
1989	3.12	3.98
1990	3.07	3.72
1991	3	3.62
1992	2.95	3.48
1993	2.91	3.37
1994	2.88	3.26
1995	2.85	3.17
1996	2.83	2.99
1997	2.81	2.73
1998	2.79	2.63
1999	2.77	2.56
2000	2.74	2.41
2001	2.72	2.37
2002	2.7	2.32
2003	2.68	2.36
2004	2.68	2.44
2005	2.64	2.51
2006	2.62	2.55
2007	2.61	2.55
2008	2.61	2.68
2009	2.59	2.5
2010	2.59	2.44
2011	2.6	2.44
2012	2.59	2.45
2013	2.57	2.43
2014	2.55	2.42
2015	2.53	2.36
2016	2.5	2.26
2017	2.46	2.28
2018	2.4	2.27
2019	2.29	2.26
2020	2.18	2.26
2021	2.15	2.25
2022	2.14	2.23
2023	2.12	2.22
2024	2.11	2.21
2025	2.09	2.19
2026	2.07	2.17
2027	2.06	2.15
2028	2.04	2.13
2029	2.02	2.12
2030	2.01	2.1
2031	2	2.09
2032	1.99	2.07
2033	1.97	2.06
2034	1.96	2.05
2035	1.95	2.04
2036	1.95	2.03
2037	1.94	2.02
2038	1.93	2
2039	1.92	1.99
2040	1.91	1.98
2041	1.91	1.98
2042	1.9	1.97
2043	1.89	1.96
2044	1.89	1.95
2045	1.88	1.94
2046	1.88	1.93
2047	1.87	1.92
2048	1.87	1.91
2049	1.86	1.9
2050	1.86	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Panama	South Africa
1960	44.2%	42.1%
1961	44.3%	42.1%
1962	44.5%	42.1%
1963	44.6%	42.1%
1964	44.7%	42.1%
1965	44.8%	42.1%
1966	44.8%	42.1%
1967	44.8%	42.2%
1968	44.7%	42.2%
1969	44.6%	42.2%
1970	44.5%	42.3%
1971	44.3%	42.2%
1972	44.1%	42.2%
1973	43.9%	42.1%
1974	43.6%	42%
1975	43.3%	41.9%
1976	42.9%	41.8%
1977	42.4%	41.7%
1978	41.9%	41.5%
1979	41.4%	41.3%
1980	40.8%	40.9%
1981	40.3%	40.5%
1982	39.8%	40.1%
1983	39.3%	39.8%
1984	38.8%	39.5%
1985	38.3%	39.2%
1986	37.8%	38.9%
1987	37.4%	38.7%
1988	36.9%	38.4%
1989	36.5%	38.1%
1990	36.1%	37.7%
1991	35.7%	37.5%
1992	35.3%	37.6%
1993	34.9%	37.3%
1994	34.6%	37.2%
1995	34.2%	37.5%
1996	33.9%	37.5%
1997	33.5%	37.2%
1998	33.1%	36.5%
1999	32.8%	35.7%
2000	32.4%	34.9%
2001	32%	34%
2002	31.6%	33.2%
2003	31.3%	32.3%
2004	31%	31.6%
2005	30.6%	31.1%
2006	30.3%	30.6%
2007	30%	30.2%
2008	29.7%	29.9%
2009	29.5%	29.7%
2010	29.2%	29.4%
2011	28.9%	29.1%
2012	28.7%	28.9%
2013	28.4%	28.7%
2014	28.2%	28.5%
2015	27.9%	28.3%
2016	27.6%	28.3%
2017	27.4%	28.3%
2018	27.1%	27.9%
2019	26.7%	27.4%
2020	26.4%	27%
2021	26%	26.6%
2022	25.7%	26.3%
2023	25.3%	26.1%
2024	24.9%	25.9%
2025	24.5%	25.7%
2026	24.1%	25.6%
2027	23.8%	25.4%
2028	23.4%	25.3%
2029	23%	25.2%
2030	22.6%	25.2%
2031	22.2%	25.1%
2032	21.9%	25%
2033	21.6%	24.8%
2034	21.3%	24.5%
2035	21%	24.3%
2036	20.9%	23.9%
2037	20.7%	23.6%
2038	20.5%	23.4%
2039	20.3%	23.1%
2040	20.1%	22.9%
2041	20%	22.7%
2042	19.8%	22.5%
2043	19.6%	22.4%
2044	19.4%	22.2%
2045	19.3%	22.1%
2046	19.1%	21.9%
2047	18.9%	21.8%
2048	18.8%	21.7%
2049	18.6%	21.6%
2050	18.4%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 24.9% of the population in Panama and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 36.1% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Panama and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Panama vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.31% in Panama and +1.05% in South Africa. 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
	Panama	South Africa
1960	35,431	421,263
1961	37,100	437,851
1962	38,537	455,634
1963	39,872	473,821
1964	40,806	490,606
1965	41,604	506,632
1966	42,457	534,862
1967	43,054	553,741
1968	43,641	571,841
1969	44,278	590,794
1970	45,075	605,102
1971	45,867	624,761
1972	46,311	638,754
1973	46,540	651,596
1974	46,932	658,438
1975	47,149	667,862
1976	47,307	675,011
1977	47,438	680,929
1978	47,694	694,341
1979	48,362	716,541
1980	49,077	738,415
1981	50,018	767,833
1982	50,858	807,550
1983	51,880	837,013
1984	52,436	869,011
1985	52,573	893,889
1986	52,681	903,644
1987	52,690	922,330
1988	52,767	909,221
1989	52,295	884,629
1990	53,451	835,421
1991	53,079	827,296
1992	53,186	794,415
1993	53,591	789,220
1994	53,845	698,609
1995	54,069	743,488
1996	54,512	710,868
1997	55,060	667,969
1998	55,482	627,027
1999	55,911	594,643
2000	56,236	526,963
2001	56,654	484,801
2002	57,011	430,926
2003	57,458	415,018
2004	58,281	442,540
2005	58,014	464,464
2006	58,067	487,584
2007	58,454	503,567
2008	58,961	595,332
2009	59,168	554,115
2010	59,418	566,834
2011	60,411	601,708
2012	60,471	643,723
2013	60,295	652,427
2014	60,227	674,754
2015	59,896	668,771
2016	59,454	641,365
2017	58,607	645,975
2018	57,508	648,319
2019	54,420	652,130
2020	46,599	595,873
2021	46,747	456,411
2022	50,556	603,636
2023	50,197	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Panama vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 37 deaths per 100,000 live births in Panama, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Panama	South Africa
1985	95	208
1986	94	200
1987	93	192
1988	93	184
1989	96	177
1990	89	170
1991	87	162
1992	85	152
1993	81	145
1994	78	133
1995	77	125
1996	73	150
1997	70	152
1998	68	152
1999	65	151
2000	64	175
2001	62	192
2002	59	225
2003	58	245
2004	57	259
2005	57	279
2006	56	283
2007	55	272
2008	55	272
2009	55	241
2010	56	226
2011	55	202
2012	53	194
2013	52	180
2014	49	162
2015	48	150
2016	47	141
2017	47	134
2018	43	128
2019	41	119
2020	74	118
2021	59	191
2022	40	129
2023	37	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 1.33% in Panama and 3.47% in South Africa. 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
	Panama	South Africa
1960	9.31%	-
1961	9.04%	-
1962	8.78%	-
1963	8.52%	-
1964	8.28%	-
1965	8.05%	-
1966	7.83%	-
1967	7.62%	-
1968	7.38%	-
1969	7.1%	-
1970	6.78%	-
1971	6.43%	-
1972	6.07%	-
1973	5.72%	-
1974	5.41%	13.2%
1975	5.15%	12.5%
1976	4.93%	11.8%
1977	4.76%	11.1%
1978	4.61%	10.5%
1979	4.47%	9.88%
1980	4.34%	9.35%
1981	4.19%	8.84%
1982	4.05%	8.39%
1983	3.9%	7.98%
1984	3.75%	7.6%
1985	3.61%	7.24%
1986	3.47%	6.89%
1987	3.35%	6.56%
1988	3.24%	6.26%
1989	3.14%	6.01%
1990	3.05%	5.82%
1991	2.97%	5.7%
1992	2.91%	5.66%
1993	2.87%	5.7%
1994	2.83%	5.82%
1995	2.8%	5.95%
1996	2.77%	6.11%
1997	2.73%	6.29%
1998	2.68%	6.56%
1999	2.63%	6.85%
2000	2.56%	7.11%
2001	2.49%	7.43%
2002	2.41%	7.69%
2003	2.33%	7.93%
2004	2.25%	8.1%
2005	2.17%	8.03%
2006	2.1%	7.75%
2007	2.03%	7.19%
2008	1.97%	6.42%
2009	1.91%	5.7%
2010	1.86%	5%
2011	1.81%	4.5%
2012	1.77%	4.25%
2013	1.75%	4.1%
2014	1.73%	3.96%
2015	1.72%	3.82%
2016	1.7%	3.68%
2017	1.68%	3.58%
2018	1.65%	3.49%
2019	1.59%	3.45%
2020	1.52%	3.41%
2021	1.45%	3.41%
2022	1.39%	3.44%
2023	1.33%	3.47%