Fertility & birth rates in Russia and South Africa

Fertility rate in Russia vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Russia was 1.41 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 Russia 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
	Russia	South Africa
1960	2.52	6.11
1961	2.45	6.08
1962	2.36	6.05
1963	2.27	6.01
1964	2.18	5.96
1965	2.13	5.89
1966	2.1	5.91
1967	2.04	5.85
1968	1.99	5.78
1969	1.97	5.72
1970	1.99	5.63
1971	2.03	5.57
1972	2.04	5.49
1973	2.01	5.41
1974	2	5.3
1975	1.98	5.19
1976	1.97	5.07
1977	1.95	4.94
1978	1.92	4.85
1979	1.9	4.82
1980	1.89	4.78
1981	1.91	4.71
1982	2.04	4.7
1983	2.11	4.63
1984	2.06	4.57
1985	2.05	4.5
1986	2.15	4.41
1987	2.22	4.35
1988	2.12	4.18
1989	2.01	3.98
1990	1.89	3.72
1991	1.73	3.62
1992	1.55	3.48
1993	1.39	3.37
1994	1.4	3.26
1995	1.34	3.17
1996	1.27	2.99
1997	1.22	2.73
1998	1.23	2.63
1999	1.16	2.56
2000	1.2	2.41
2001	1.22	2.37
2002	1.29	2.32
2003	1.32	2.36
2004	1.34	2.44
2005	1.29	2.51
2006	1.31	2.55
2007	1.42	2.55
2008	1.5	2.68
2009	1.54	2.5
2010	1.57	2.44
2011	1.58	2.44
2012	1.69	2.45
2013	1.71	2.43
2014	1.75	2.42
2015	1.78	2.36
2016	1.76	2.26
2017	1.62	2.28
2018	1.58	2.27
2019	1.5	2.26
2020	1.51	2.26
2021	1.51	2.25
2022	1.42	2.23
2023	1.41	2.22
2024	1.42	2.21
2025	1.43	2.19
2026	1.43	2.17
2027	1.43	2.15
2028	1.44	2.13
2029	1.44	2.12
2030	1.45	2.1
2031	1.45	2.09
2032	1.45	2.07
2033	1.46	2.06
2034	1.46	2.05
2035	1.46	2.04
2036	1.47	2.03
2037	1.47	2.02
2038	1.47	2
2039	1.47	1.99
2040	1.48	1.98
2041	1.48	1.98
2042	1.48	1.97
2043	1.48	1.96
2044	1.49	1.95
2045	1.49	1.94
2046	1.49	1.93
2047	1.49	1.92
2048	1.5	1.91
2049	1.5	1.9
2050	1.5	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Russia	South Africa
1960	30.5%	42.1%
1961	30.9%	42.1%
1962	30.8%	42.1%
1963	30.6%	42.1%
1964	30.2%	42.1%
1965	29.5%	42.1%
1966	28.9%	42.1%
1967	28.3%	42.2%
1968	27.6%	42.2%
1969	26.9%	42.2%
1970	26.1%	42.3%
1971	25.4%	42.2%
1972	24.8%	42.2%
1973	24.2%	42.1%
1974	23.6%	42%
1975	23%	41.9%
1976	22.5%	41.8%
1977	22.1%	41.7%
1978	21.8%	41.5%
1979	21.7%	41.3%
1980	21.7%	40.9%
1981	21.7%	40.5%
1982	21.9%	40.1%
1983	22.1%	39.8%
1984	22.4%	39.5%
1985	22.6%	39.2%
1986	22.8%	38.9%
1987	22.9%	38.7%
1988	23%	38.4%
1989	23%	38.1%
1990	22.9%	37.7%
1991	22.7%	37.5%
1992	22.4%	37.6%
1993	22%	37.3%
1994	21.6%	37.2%
1995	21.2%	37.5%
1996	20.7%	37.5%
1997	20.2%	37.2%
1998	19.5%	36.5%
1999	18.8%	35.7%
2000	18%	34.9%
2001	17.3%	34%
2002	16.6%	33.2%
2003	16%	32.3%
2004	15.6%	31.6%
2005	15.2%	31.1%
2006	14.9%	30.6%
2007	14.8%	30.2%
2008	14.9%	29.9%
2009	15%	29.7%
2010	15.2%	29.4%
2011	15.4%	29.1%
2012	15.7%	28.9%
2013	16.1%	28.7%
2014	16.5%	28.5%
2015	16.9%	28.3%
2016	17.2%	28.3%
2017	17.5%	28.3%
2018	17.6%	27.9%
2019	17.6%	27.4%
2020	17.7%	27%
2021	17.7%	26.6%
2022	17.7%	26.3%
2023	17.5%	26.1%
2024	17.3%	25.9%
2025	17%	25.7%
2026	16.7%	25.6%
2027	16.3%	25.4%
2028	15.9%	25.3%
2029	15.5%	25.2%
2030	15%	25.2%
2031	14.6%	25.1%
2032	14.2%	25%
2033	14%	24.8%
2034	13.8%	24.5%
2035	13.7%	24.3%
2036	13.6%	23.9%
2037	13.6%	23.6%
2038	13.6%	23.4%
2039	13.7%	23.1%
2040	13.9%	22.9%
2041	14%	22.7%
2042	14.2%	22.5%
2043	14.4%	22.4%
2044	14.6%	22.2%
2045	14.8%	22.1%
2046	15%	21.9%
2047	15.2%	21.8%
2048	15.4%	21.7%
2049	15.5%	21.6%
2050	15.7%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 17.3% of the population in Russia and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 22.9% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Russia and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Russia vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.24% in Russia 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
	Russia	South Africa
1960	1,962,834	421,263
1961	1,810,538	437,851
1962	1,573,701	455,634
1963	1,436,077	473,821
1964	1,233,520	490,606
1965	1,059,335	506,632
1966	989,279	534,862
1967	854,554	553,741
1968	787,621	571,841
1969	753,088	590,794
1970	785,554	605,102
1971	854,999	624,761
1972	872,050	638,754
1973	846,561	651,596
1974	883,186	658,438
1975	843,850	667,862
1976	852,237	675,011
1977	832,932	680,929
1978	812,766	694,341
1979	690,135	716,541
1980	681,149	738,415
1981	713,700	767,833
1982	830,855	807,550
1983	906,676	837,013
1984	756,548	869,011
1985	762,447	893,889
1986	985,279	903,644
1987	977,583	922,330
1988	778,343	909,221
1989	576,112	884,629
1990	325,533	835,421
1991	103,876	827,296
1992	-222,808	794,415
1993	-757,140	789,220
1994	-920,129	698,609
1995	-845,742	743,488
1996	-785,248	710,868
1997	-769,159	667,969
1998	-694,053	627,027
1999	-927,453	594,643
2000	-967,540	526,963
2001	-963,445	484,801
2002	-944,492	430,926
2003	-896,822	415,018
2004	-792,370	442,540
2005	-846,761	464,464
2006	-686,638	487,584
2007	-471,257	503,567
2008	-356,856	595,332
2009	-257,014	554,115
2010	-242,844	566,834
2011	-128,716	601,708
2012	0	643,723
2013	28,761	652,427
2014	28,848	674,754
2015	43,392	668,771
2016	0	641,365
2017	-130,764	645,975
2018	-232,637	648,319
2019	-319,997	652,130
2020	-697,177	595,873
2021	-1,027,702	456,411
2022	-576,948	603,636
2023	-503,392	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Russia vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 9 deaths per 100,000 live births in Russia, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Russia	South Africa
1985	81	208
1986	69	200
1987	65	192
1988	63	184
1989	61	177
1990	58	170
1991	57	162
1992	62	152
1993	76	145
1994	85	133
1995	82	125
1996	69	150
1997	59	152
1998	53	152
1999	53	151
2000	51	175
2001	48	192
2002	47	225
2003	45	245
2004	41	259
2005	38	279
2006	32	283
2007	29	272
2008	27	272
2009	24	241
2010	23	226
2011	19	202
2012	18	194
2013	16	180
2014	16	162
2015	15	150
2016	14	141
2017	12	134
2018	12	128
2019	12	119
2020	19	118
2021	21	191
2022	13	129
2023	9	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.45% in Russia 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
	Russia	South Africa
1960	4.55%	-
1961	4.26%	-
1962	3.99%	-
1963	3.76%	-
1964	3.55%	-
1965	3.38%	-
1966	3.23%	-
1967	3.11%	-
1968	3.02%	-
1969	2.94%	-
1970	2.88%	-
1971	2.84%	-
1972	2.81%	-
1973	2.78%	-
1974	2.77%	13.2%
1975	2.76%	12.5%
1976	2.76%	11.8%
1977	2.76%	11.1%
1978	2.76%	10.5%
1979	2.75%	9.88%
1980	2.73%	9.35%
1981	2.7%	8.84%
1982	2.66%	8.39%
1983	2.62%	7.98%
1984	2.56%	7.6%
1985	2.5%	7.24%
1986	2.42%	6.89%
1987	2.34%	6.56%
1988	2.26%	6.26%
1989	2.2%	6.01%
1990	2.17%	5.82%
1991	2.16%	5.7%
1992	2.17%	5.66%
1993	2.19%	5.7%
1994	2.2%	5.82%
1995	2.2%	5.95%
1996	2.17%	6.11%
1997	2.13%	6.29%
1998	2.08%	6.56%
1999	2.02%	6.85%
2000	1.94%	7.11%
2001	1.84%	7.43%
2002	1.73%	7.69%
2003	1.61%	7.93%
2004	1.5%	8.1%
2005	1.39%	8.03%
2006	1.29%	7.75%
2007	1.2%	7.19%
2008	1.13%	6.42%
2009	1.07%	5.7%
2010	1.04%	5%
2011	1.02%	4.5%
2012	0.99%	4.25%
2013	0.95%	4.1%
2014	0.89%	3.96%
2015	0.82%	3.82%
2016	0.75%	3.68%
2017	0.69%	3.58%
2018	0.63%	3.49%
2019	0.58%	3.45%
2020	0.54%	3.41%
2021	0.51%	3.41%
2022	0.47%	3.44%
2023	0.45%	3.47%