Fertility & birth rates in Rwanda and South Korea

Fertility rate in Rwanda vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Rwanda was 3.7 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Rwanda vs South Korea population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Rwanda	South Korea
1960	8.28	5.99
1961	8.28	5.8
1962	8.27	5.56
1963	8.27	5.33
1964	8.27	5.07
1965	8.25	4.89
1966	8.23	4.78
1967	8.21	4.62
1968	8.19	4.51
1969	8.18	4.45
1970	8.15	4.53
1971	8.09	4.54
1972	8.09	4.12
1973	8.09	4.07
1974	8.1	3.77
1975	8.1	3.43
1976	8.12	3
1977	8.14	2.99
1978	8.16	2.64
1979	8.13	2.9
1980	8.12	2.82
1981	8.1	2.57
1982	8.06	2.39
1983	8	2.06
1984	7.91	1.74
1985	7.79	1.66
1986	7.61	1.58
1987	7.43	1.53
1988	7.23	1.55
1989	7.03	1.56
1990	6.8	1.57
1991	6.62	1.71
1992	6.54	1.76
1993	6.48	1.65
1994	6.42	1.66
1995	6.35	1.63
1996	6.29	1.57
1997	6.24	1.54
1998	6.17	1.46
1999	6.06	1.43
2000	5.97	1.48
2001	5.89	1.31
2002	5.82	1.18
2003	5.74	1.19
2004	5.64	1.16
2005	5.5	1.09
2006	5.34	1.13
2007	5.14	1.26
2008	4.92	1.19
2009	4.71	1.15
2010	4.52	1.23
2011	4.33	1.24
2012	4.2	1.3
2013	4.14	1.19
2014	4.12	1.21
2015	4.11	1.24
2016	4.11	1.17
2017	4.08	1.05
2018	4.05	0.98
2019	3.99	0.92
2020	3.91	0.84
2021	3.84	0.81
2022	3.78	0.78
2023	3.7	0.72
2024	3.64	0.73
2025	3.59	0.75
2026	3.54	0.76
2027	3.49	0.78
2028	3.43	0.79
2029	3.38	0.8
2030	3.33	0.82
2031	3.28	0.83
2032	3.24	0.84
2033	3.19	0.85
2034	3.15	0.86
2035	3.11	0.88
2036	3.07	0.89
2037	3.03	0.9
2038	2.99	0.91
2039	2.95	0.92
2040	2.92	0.93
2041	2.89	0.95
2042	2.85	0.96
2043	2.81	0.96
2044	2.78	0.97
2045	2.75	0.98
2046	2.72	0.99
2047	2.69	1
2048	2.67	1.01
2049	2.64	1.02
2050	2.61	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Rwanda	South Korea
1960	49.2%	41.3%
1961	49.7%	41.8%
1962	50.2%	42.3%
1963	50.6%	42.7%
1964	50.8%	43.1%
1965	50.6%	43.3%
1966	50.2%	43.5%
1967	49.7%	43.3%
1968	49.2%	43.1%
1969	48.7%	42.7%
1970	48.2%	42.1%
1971	47.9%	41.5%
1972	47.5%	41%
1973	47.2%	40.3%
1974	46.9%	39.5%
1975	46.6%	38.5%
1976	46.4%	37.5%
1977	46.4%	36.5%
1978	46.4%	35.6%
1979	46.5%	34.8%
1980	46.8%	34%
1981	47.1%	33.3%
1982	47.4%	32.7%
1983	47.7%	32%
1984	48.1%	31.2%
1985	48.3%	30.2%
1986	48.6%	29.2%
1987	48.8%	28.2%
1988	48.9%	27.3%
1989	48.9%	26.5%
1990	49%	25.8%
1991	48.9%	25.2%
1992	48.7%	24.7%
1993	48.4%	24.2%
1994	50.1%	23.7%
1995	52.4%	23.1%
1996	51.4%	22.5%
1997	50.5%	22%
1998	49.2%	21.6%
1999	47.8%	21.2%
2000	46.4%	21%
2001	45.2%	20.8%
2002	44.3%	20.5%
2003	43.7%	20.1%
2004	43.3%	19.7%
2005	43.1%	19.2%
2006	42.9%	18.7%
2007	42.9%	18.1%
2008	42.8%	17.5%
2009	42.6%	16.9%
2010	42.4%	16.4%
2011	42.2%	15.8%
2012	41.9%	15.2%
2013	41.7%	14.7%
2014	41.4%	14.2%
2015	41.1%	13.8%
2016	40.9%	13.4%
2017	40.5%	13%
2018	40.1%	12.7%
2019	39.7%	12.4%
2020	39.2%	12.1%
2021	38.6%	11.8%
2022	38.2%	11.4%
2023	37.7%	11%
2024	37.4%	10.6%
2025	37%	10.2%
2026	36.7%	9.82%
2027	36.4%	9.42%
2028	36%	9.06%
2029	35.7%	8.75%
2030	35.4%	8.43%
2031	35%	8.15%
2032	34.7%	7.94%
2033	34.4%	7.79%
2034	34.1%	7.7%
2035	33.7%	7.66%
2036	33.4%	7.65%
2037	33.1%	7.66%
2038	32.9%	7.68%
2039	32.6%	7.71%
2040	32.3%	7.73%
2041	32%	7.75%
2042	31.7%	7.76%
2043	31.4%	7.77%
2044	31.1%	7.78%
2045	30.8%	7.79%
2046	30.5%	7.8%
2047	30.2%	7.81%
2048	29.9%	7.82%
2049	29.7%	7.82%
2050	29.4%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 37.4% of the population in Rwanda and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 49% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Rwanda and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Rwanda vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.45% in Rwanda and +0.06% in South Korea. 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
	Rwanda	South Korea
1960	100,627	728,010
1961	102,051	730,173
1962	102,548	712,590
1963	94,296	685,824
1964	102,562	655,501
1965	103,422	641,090
1966	105,128	623,534
1967	108,053	692,169
1968	111,422	684,487
1969	115,394	694,227
1970	119,273	747,987
1971	122,567	789,185
1972	126,403	740,469
1973	131,021	699,115
1974	135,743	673,030
1975	140,596	603,300
1976	147,665	530,558
1977	155,011	578,947
1978	163,779	499,084
1979	174,477	623,068
1980	184,988	583,294
1981	195,769	631,189
1982	205,147	605,626
1983	212,750	514,844
1984	219,337	436,384
1985	223,794	416,219
1986	225,526	395,651
1987	225,744	378,758
1988	223,759	399,297
1989	217,632	403,266
1990	207,895	411,546
1991	196,431	467,594
1992	188,025	494,352
1993	183,926	477,302
1994	-719,479	473,200
1995	121,137	468,967
1996	140,455	446,142
1997	174,687	422,773
1998	197,185	393,436
1999	210,518	368,272
2000	221,276	390,167
2001	230,845	312,643
2002	239,036	247,752
2003	251,243	244,251
2004	265,273	225,988
2005	275,121	187,920
2006	282,149	203,441
2007	285,791	248,286
2008	287,334	215,841
2009	287,034	197,231
2010	286,848	213,083
2011	282,922	214,728
2012	282,584	215,859
2013	286,331	166,415
2014	292,779	167,464
2015	299,114	163,248
2016	305,549	122,923
2017	310,323	71,907
2018	312,512	30,951
2019	313,525	10,353
2020	312,692	-31,101
2021	309,895	-56,947
2022	312,145	-124,014
2023	312,762	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Rwanda vs South Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 229 deaths per 100,000 live births in Rwanda, compared to 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Rwanda	South Korea
1985	1,116	38
1986	1,126	35
1987	1,145	34
1988	1,188	31
1989	1,238	29
1990	1,309	28
1991	1,386	28
1992	1,530	26
1993	1,619	24
1994	5,721	23
1995	1,505	22
1996	1,295	20
1997	1,318	19
1998	1,268	18
1999	1,073	17
2000	885	15
2001	769	14
2002	677	13
2003	551	13
2004	460	12
2005	465	11
2006	494	10
2007	494	10
2008	454	9
2009	418	9
2010	393	8
2011	358	8
2012	331	8
2013	317	7
2014	301	7
2015	292	6
2016	278	6
2017	275	6
2018	269	5
2019	261	5
2020	252	12
2021	254	5
2022	234	7
2023	229	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4% in Rwanda and 0.28% in South Korea. 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
	Rwanda	South Korea
1960	22.4%	11.2%
1961	21.9%	10.6%
1962	21.5%	10.1%
1963	21.3%	9.67%
1964	21.1%	9.18%
1965	21.1%	8.68%
1966	21.2%	8.16%
1967	21.4%	7.62%
1968	21.7%	7.1%
1969	22%	6.59%
1970	22.3%	6.12%
1971	22.6%	5.71%
1972	23%	5.36%
1973	23.4%	5.07%
1974	24%	4.82%
1975	24.6%	4.61%
1976	25.1%	4.42%
1977	25.1%	4.23%
1978	24.6%	4.04%
1979	23.4%	3.84%
1980	21.8%	3.63%
1981	20.1%	3.4%
1982	18.6%	3.17%
1983	17.4%	2.93%
1984	16.6%	2.7%
1985	16.1%	2.46%
1986	15.6%	2.25%
1987	15.2%	2.05%
1988	14.8%	1.87%
1989	14.8%	1.71%
1990	15.1%	1.57%
1991	16%	1.44%
1992	17.5%	1.33%
1993	19.3%	1.23%
1994	38.9%	1.14%
1995	21.8%	1.05%
1996	22.2%	0.98%
1997	22.2%	0.91%
1998	21.5%	0.85%
1999	20.2%	0.8%
2000	18.5%	0.75%
2001	16.7%	0.71%
2002	14.9%	0.68%
2003	13.3%	0.64%
2004	11.8%	0.6%
2005	10.5%	0.56%
2006	9.37%	0.52%
2007	8.45%	0.48%
2008	7.62%	0.45%
2009	6.92%	0.43%
2010	6.33%	0.41%
2011	5.81%	0.4%
2012	5.45%	0.38%
2013	5.17%	0.37%
2014	4.96%	0.36%
2015	4.78%	0.35%
2016	4.63%	0.34%
2017	4.52%	0.33%
2018	4.43%	0.32%
2019	4.34%	0.31%
2020	4.25%	0.3%
2021	4.16%	0.29%
2022	4.08%	0.28%
2023	4%	0.28%