Fertility & birth rates in Rwanda and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in Rwanda vs Zimbabwe 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 3.72 in Zimbabwe in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Rwanda vs Zimbabwe 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	Zimbabwe
1960	8.28	7.2
1961	8.28	7.21
1962	8.27	7.23
1963	8.27	7.23
1964	8.27	7.23
1965	8.25	7.23
1966	8.23	7.2
1967	8.21	7.16
1968	8.19	7.11
1969	8.18	7.04
1970	8.15	6.98
1971	8.09	6.94
1972	8.09	6.94
1973	8.09	6.94
1974	8.1	6.88
1975	8.1	6.83
1976	8.12	6.77
1977	8.14	6.71
1978	8.16	6.66
1979	8.13	6.59
1980	8.12	6.52
1981	8.1	6.45
1982	8.06	6.33
1983	8	6.2
1984	7.91	6.04
1985	7.79	5.87
1986	7.61	5.69
1987	7.43	5.5
1988	7.23	5.28
1989	7.03	5.07
1990	6.8	4.88
1991	6.62	4.72
1992	6.54	4.57
1993	6.48	4.39
1994	6.42	4.28
1995	6.35	4.15
1996	6.29	4.11
1997	6.24	4.08
1998	6.17	4.07
1999	6.06	4.06
2000	5.97	4.01
2001	5.89	3.98
2002	5.82	3.93
2003	5.74	3.86
2004	5.64	3.78
2005	5.5	3.69
2006	5.34	3.64
2007	5.14	3.68
2008	4.92	3.78
2009	4.71	3.95
2010	4.52	4.04
2011	4.33	4.13
2012	4.2	4.13
2013	4.14	4.11
2014	4.12	4.01
2015	4.11	3.91
2016	4.11	3.83
2017	4.08	3.77
2018	4.05	3.74
2019	3.99	3.75
2020	3.91	3.75
2021	3.84	3.77
2022	3.78	3.77
2023	3.7	3.72
2024	3.64	3.67
2025	3.59	3.62
2026	3.54	3.57
2027	3.49	3.52
2028	3.43	3.47
2029	3.38	3.43
2030	3.33	3.38
2031	3.28	3.33
2032	3.24	3.29
2033	3.19	3.25
2034	3.15	3.21
2035	3.11	3.17
2036	3.07	3.13
2037	3.03	3.09
2038	2.99	3.06
2039	2.95	3.02
2040	2.92	2.99
2041	2.89	2.96
2042	2.85	2.93
2043	2.81	2.9
2044	2.78	2.87
2045	2.75	2.84
2046	2.72	2.81
2047	2.69	2.78
2048	2.67	2.75
2049	2.64	2.72
2050	2.61	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Rwanda	Zimbabwe
1960	49.2%	47.3%
1961	49.7%	47.7%
1962	50.2%	48.1%
1963	50.6%	48.5%
1964	50.8%	48.8%
1965	50.6%	48.7%
1966	50.2%	48.6%
1967	49.7%	48.5%
1968	49.2%	48.5%
1969	48.7%	48.4%
1970	48.2%	48.3%
1971	47.9%	48.2%
1972	47.5%	48.2%
1973	47.2%	48.1%
1974	46.9%	48.1%
1975	46.6%	48.1%
1976	46.4%	48.2%
1977	46.4%	48.3%
1978	46.4%	48.5%
1979	46.5%	48.8%
1980	46.8%	48.7%
1981	47.1%	48.4%
1982	47.4%	48.3%
1983	47.7%	48.2%
1984	48.1%	48.1%
1985	48.3%	48%
1986	48.6%	47.9%
1987	48.8%	47.9%
1988	48.9%	47.9%
1989	48.9%	47.6%
1990	49%	47.1%
1991	48.9%	46.6%
1992	48.7%	46.8%
1993	48.4%	47.1%
1994	50.1%	46.6%
1995	52.4%	45.9%
1996	51.4%	45%
1997	50.5%	44%
1998	49.2%	43.1%
1999	47.8%	42.4%
2000	46.4%	41.9%
2001	45.2%	41.5%
2002	44.3%	41.4%
2003	43.7%	41.5%
2004	43.3%	41.7%
2005	43.1%	41.9%
2006	42.9%	42%
2007	42.9%	42.1%
2008	42.8%	42.4%
2009	42.6%	42.7%
2010	42.4%	43%
2011	42.2%	43.4%
2012	41.9%	43.7%
2013	41.7%	43.9%
2014	41.4%	43.9%
2015	41.1%	43.8%
2016	40.9%	43.6%
2017	40.5%	43.3%
2018	40.1%	42.9%
2019	39.7%	42.5%
2020	39.2%	42.2%
2021	38.6%	41.9%
2022	38.2%	41.6%
2023	37.7%	41.3%
2024	37.4%	40.9%
2025	37%	40.3%
2026	36.7%	39.6%
2027	36.4%	39%
2028	36%	38.4%
2029	35.7%	37.8%
2030	35.4%	37.4%
2031	35%	37%
2032	34.7%	36.8%
2033	34.4%	36.5%
2034	34.1%	36.3%
2035	33.7%	36.1%
2036	33.4%	35.8%
2037	33.1%	35.6%
2038	32.9%	35.3%
2039	32.6%	35.1%
2040	32.3%	34.8%
2041	32%	34.6%
2042	31.7%	34.3%
2043	31.4%	34.1%
2044	31.1%	33.8%
2045	30.8%	33.5%
2046	30.5%	33.2%
2047	30.2%	32.9%
2048	29.9%	32.6%
2049	29.7%	32.2%
2050	29.4%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 37.4% of the population in Rwanda and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 49% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Rwanda and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in Rwanda vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.45% in Rwanda and +2.34% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	100,627	126,959
1961	102,051	131,531
1962	102,548	136,317
1963	94,296	140,984
1964	102,562	145,848
1965	103,422	151,164
1966	105,128	156,014
1967	108,053	161,205
1968	111,422	166,865
1969	115,394	172,626
1970	119,273	178,979
1971	122,567	185,427
1972	126,403	193,725
1973	131,021	201,885
1974	135,743	208,806
1975	140,596	216,947
1976	147,665	221,419
1977	155,011	225,139
1978	163,779	222,979
1979	174,477	223,657
1980	184,988	241,179
1981	195,769	271,361
1982	205,147	279,934
1983	212,750	286,545
1984	219,337	290,052
1985	223,794	290,756
1986	225,526	289,894
1987	225,744	286,766
1988	223,759	277,498
1989	217,632	270,838
1990	207,895	265,444
1991	196,431	260,943
1992	188,025	255,291
1993	183,926	228,045
1994	-719,479	216,343
1995	121,137	206,695
1996	140,455	205,269
1997	174,687	216,288
1998	197,185	225,614
1999	210,518	232,393
2000	221,276	236,343
2001	230,845	227,909
2002	239,036	244,170
2003	251,243	243,057
2004	265,273	248,307
2005	275,121	248,545
2006	282,149	248,963
2007	285,791	261,805
2008	287,334	280,527
2009	287,034	309,316
2010	286,848	335,570
2011	282,922	359,572
2012	282,584	371,135
2013	286,331	374,757
2014	292,779	366,350
2015	299,114	356,203
2016	305,549	348,772
2017	310,323	344,035
2018	312,512	345,883
2019	313,525	348,798
2020	312,692	354,790
2021	309,895	349,908
2022	312,145	371,243
2023	312,762	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: Rwanda vs Zimbabwe

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 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Rwanda	Zimbabwe
1985	1,116	573
1986	1,126	525
1987	1,145	480
1988	1,188	431
1989	1,238	382
1990	1,309	353
1991	1,386	332
1992	1,530	333
1993	1,619	331
1994	5,721	332
1995	1,505	332
1996	1,295	352
1997	1,318	357
1998	1,268	368
1999	1,073	399
2000	885	405
2001	769	467
2002	677	418
2003	551	455
2004	460	451
2005	465	454
2006	494	480
2007	494	519
2008	454	526
2009	418	540
2010	393	567
2011	358	564
2012	331	558
2013	317	525
2014	301	468
2015	292	428
2016	278	411
2017	275	389
2018	269	386
2019	261	388
2020	252	380
2021	254	446
2022	234	368
2023	229	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4% in Rwanda and 4.42% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	22.4%	15.2%
1961	21.9%	14.8%
1962	21.5%	14.4%
1963	21.3%	14%
1964	21.1%	13.5%
1965	21.1%	13.1%
1966	21.2%	12.7%
1967	21.4%	12.4%
1968	21.7%	12.1%
1969	22%	11.8%
1970	22.3%	11.7%
1971	22.6%	11.5%
1972	23%	11.5%
1973	23.4%	11.4%
1974	24%	11.4%
1975	24.6%	11.4%
1976	25.1%	11.5%
1977	25.1%	11.5%
1978	24.6%	11.5%
1979	23.4%	11.3%
1980	21.8%	11.1%
1981	20.1%	10.7%
1982	18.6%	10.1%
1983	17.4%	9.5%
1984	16.6%	8.87%
1985	16.1%	8.31%
1986	15.6%	7.86%
1987	15.2%	7.61%
1988	14.8%	7.55%
1989	14.8%	7.69%
1990	15.1%	7.97%
1991	16%	8.33%
1992	17.5%	8.73%
1993	19.3%	9.16%
1994	38.9%	9.52%
1995	21.8%	9.83%
1996	22.2%	10%
1997	22.2%	10.1%
1998	21.5%	10%
1999	20.2%	9.92%
2000	18.5%	9.83%
2001	16.7%	9.79%
2002	14.9%	8.48%
2003	13.3%	8.85%
2004	11.8%	9.17%
2005	10.5%	9.23%
2006	9.37%	9.4%
2007	8.45%	9.47%
2008	7.62%	9.34%
2009	6.92%	9.03%
2010	6.33%	8.5%
2011	5.81%	7.88%
2012	5.45%	7.14%
2013	5.17%	6.55%
2014	4.96%	6.18%
2015	4.78%	5.98%
2016	4.63%	5.69%
2017	4.52%	5.5%
2018	4.43%	5.23%
2019	4.34%	5.11%
2020	4.25%	5.01%
2021	4.16%	4.76%
2022	4.08%	4.6%
2023	4%	4.42%