Fertility & birth rates in Sierra Leone and South Africa

Fertility rate in Sierra Leone vs South Africa chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Sierra Leone was 3.79 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 Sierra Leone 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
	Sierra Leone	South Africa
1960	6.18	6.11
1961	6.21	6.08
1962	6.22	6.05
1963	6.26	6.01
1964	6.29	5.96
1965	6.31	5.89
1966	6.35	5.91
1967	6.38	5.85
1968	6.39	5.78
1969	6.39	5.72
1970	6.41	5.63
1971	6.43	5.57
1972	6.45	5.49
1973	6.47	5.41
1974	6.53	5.3
1975	6.55	5.19
1976	6.55	5.07
1977	6.57	4.94
1978	6.59	4.85
1979	6.58	4.82
1980	6.56	4.78
1981	6.55	4.71
1982	6.56	4.7
1983	6.57	4.63
1984	6.59	4.57
1985	6.59	4.5
1986	6.6	4.41
1987	6.61	4.35
1988	6.59	4.18
1989	6.57	3.98
1990	6.57	3.72
1991	6.55	3.62
1992	6.56	3.48
1993	6.57	3.37
1994	6.56	3.26
1995	6.56	3.17
1996	6.55	2.99
1997	6.53	2.73
1998	6.5	2.63
1999	6.42	2.56
2000	6.36	2.41
2001	6.31	2.37
2002	6.23	2.32
2003	6.09	2.36
2004	5.92	2.44
2005	5.81	2.51
2006	5.74	2.55
2007	5.64	2.55
2008	5.56	2.68
2009	5.45	2.5
2010	5.33	2.44
2011	5.21	2.44
2012	5.06	2.45
2013	4.87	2.43
2014	4.7	2.42
2015	4.55	2.36
2016	4.47	2.26
2017	4.39	2.28
2018	4.29	2.27
2019	4.19	2.26
2020	4.08	2.26
2021	3.98	2.25
2022	3.88	2.23
2023	3.79	2.22
2024	3.7	2.21
2025	3.61	2.19
2026	3.53	2.17
2027	3.47	2.15
2028	3.37	2.13
2029	3.3	2.12
2030	3.23	2.1
2031	3.18	2.09
2032	3.12	2.07
2033	3.07	2.06
2034	3.02	2.05
2035	2.97	2.04
2036	2.92	2.03
2037	2.88	2.02
2038	2.84	2
2039	2.79	1.99
2040	2.76	1.98
2041	2.72	1.98
2042	2.68	1.97
2043	2.65	1.96
2044	2.62	1.95
2045	2.58	1.94
2046	2.55	1.93
2047	2.53	1.92
2048	2.5	1.91
2049	2.47	1.9
2050	2.45	1.89

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sierra Leone	South Africa
1960	38.2%	42.1%
1961	38.3%	42.1%
1962	38.3%	42.1%
1963	38.5%	42.1%
1964	38.8%	42.1%
1965	39.1%	42.1%
1966	39.4%	42.1%
1967	39.6%	42.2%
1968	39.9%	42.2%
1969	40.1%	42.2%
1970	40.3%	42.3%
1971	40.6%	42.2%
1972	40.7%	42.2%
1973	40.9%	42.1%
1974	41.1%	42%
1975	41.3%	41.9%
1976	41.4%	41.8%
1977	41.6%	41.7%
1978	41.7%	41.5%
1979	41.8%	41.3%
1980	41.9%	40.9%
1981	42%	40.5%
1982	42.1%	40.1%
1983	42.2%	39.8%
1984	42.3%	39.5%
1985	42.5%	39.2%
1986	42.6%	38.9%
1987	42.7%	38.7%
1988	42.8%	38.4%
1989	42.9%	38.1%
1990	42.9%	37.7%
1991	43%	37.5%
1992	43.1%	37.6%
1993	43.2%	37.3%
1994	43.3%	37.2%
1995	43.4%	37.5%
1996	43.5%	37.5%
1997	43.5%	37.2%
1998	43.6%	36.5%
1999	43.7%	35.7%
2000	43.8%	34.9%
2001	43.9%	34%
2002	43.9%	33.2%
2003	43.9%	32.3%
2004	43.9%	31.6%
2005	43.8%	31.1%
2006	43.7%	30.6%
2007	43.6%	30.2%
2008	43.5%	29.9%
2009	43.4%	29.7%
2010	43.2%	29.4%
2011	43%	29.1%
2012	42.8%	28.9%
2013	42.5%	28.7%
2014	42.2%	28.5%
2015	41.8%	28.3%
2016	41.4%	28.3%
2017	41%	28.3%
2018	40.6%	27.9%
2019	40.2%	27.4%
2020	39.8%	27%
2021	39.4%	26.6%
2022	39%	26.3%
2023	38.5%	26.1%
2024	38.1%	25.9%
2025	37.7%	25.7%
2026	37.2%	25.6%
2027	36.8%	25.4%
2028	36.3%	25.3%
2029	35.9%	25.2%
2030	35.5%	25.2%
2031	35.2%	25.1%
2032	34.8%	25%
2033	34.4%	24.8%
2034	34%	24.5%
2035	33.6%	24.3%
2036	33.2%	23.9%
2037	32.8%	23.6%
2038	32.4%	23.4%
2039	32%	23.1%
2040	31.6%	22.9%
2041	31.2%	22.7%
2042	30.9%	22.5%
2043	30.5%	22.4%
2044	30.2%	22.2%
2045	29.8%	22.1%
2046	29.5%	21.9%
2047	29.2%	21.8%
2048	28.8%	21.7%
2049	28.5%	21.6%
2050	28.2%	21.5%

Children aged 0-14 make up 38.1% of the population in Sierra Leone and 25.9% in South Africa in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 37.7% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sierra Leone and South Africa compared.

Natural population change in Sierra Leone vs South Africa by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.31% in Sierra Leone 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
	Sierra Leone	South Africa
1960	38,192	421,263
1961	40,022	437,851
1962	41,603	455,634
1963	43,569	473,821
1964	45,487	490,606
1965	47,223	506,632
1966	49,486	534,862
1967	51,734	553,741
1968	53,126	571,841
1969	54,768	590,794
1970	56,513	605,102
1971	58,484	624,761
1972	60,279	638,754
1973	62,443	651,596
1974	65,357	658,438
1975	67,560	667,862
1976	69,506	675,011
1977	71,663	680,929
1978	74,130	694,341
1979	75,992	716,541
1980	77,932	738,415
1981	80,111	767,833
1982	82,457	807,550
1983	84,628	837,013
1984	87,072	869,011
1985	88,869	893,889
1986	90,902	903,644
1987	94,235	922,330
1988	96,344	909,221
1989	98,298	884,629
1990	100,778	835,421
1991	105,477	827,296
1992	103,251	794,415
1993	103,317	789,220
1994	101,486	698,609
1995	100,885	743,488
1996	104,140	710,868
1997	105,433	667,969
1998	103,906	627,027
1999	102,295	594,643
2000	110,754	526,963
2001	116,647	484,801
2002	126,429	430,926
2003	130,312	415,018
2004	132,661	442,540
2005	137,234	464,464
2006	144,127	487,584
2007	145,740	503,567
2008	149,855	595,332
2009	152,669	554,115
2010	155,338	566,834
2011	158,858	601,708
2012	160,915	643,723
2013	161,265	652,427
2014	160,137	674,754
2015	162,275	668,771
2016	168,784	641,365
2017	173,259	645,975
2018	178,772	648,319
2019	181,068	652,130
2020	181,015	595,873
2021	183,326	456,411
2022	186,625	603,636
2023	188,788	602,793

Maternal mortality chart: Sierra Leone vs South Africa

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 354 deaths per 100,000 live births in Sierra Leone, compared to 118 deaths in South Africa.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sierra Leone	South Africa
1985	1,506	208
1986	1,530	200
1987	1,533	192
1988	1,549	184
1989	1,575	177
1990	1,572	170
1991	1,699	162
1992	1,681	152
1993	1,696	145
1994	1,755	133
1995	1,777	125
1996	1,726	150
1997	1,721	152
1998	1,753	152
1999	1,731	151
2000	1,603	175
2001	1,518	192
2002	1,492	225
2003	1,433	245
2004	1,366	259
2005	1,294	279
2006	1,168	283
2007	1,132	272
2008	1,093	272
2009	1,054	241
2010	1,018	226
2011	967	202
2012	915	194
2013	842	180
2014	821	162
2015	730	150
2016	633	141
2017	578	134
2018	491	128
2019	464	119
2020	422	118
2021	403	191
2022	370	129
2023	354	118

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 9.43% in Sierra Leone 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
	Sierra Leone	South Africa
1960	39.1%	-
1961	38.5%	-
1962	38%	-
1963	37.4%	-
1964	36.8%	-
1965	36.2%	-
1966	35.6%	-
1967	35%	-
1968	34.5%	-
1969	33.9%	-
1970	33.4%	-
1971	32.9%	-
1972	32.3%	-
1973	31.9%	-
1974	31.4%	13.2%
1975	30.9%	12.5%
1976	30.5%	11.8%
1977	30%	11.1%
1978	29.6%	10.5%
1979	29.2%	9.88%
1980	28.9%	9.35%
1981	28.5%	8.84%
1982	28.1%	8.39%
1983	27.8%	7.98%
1984	27.5%	7.6%
1985	27.2%	7.24%
1986	26.9%	6.89%
1987	26.6%	6.56%
1988	26.4%	6.26%
1989	26.2%	6.01%
1990	25.9%	5.82%
1991	25.7%	5.7%
1992	25.5%	5.66%
1993	25.3%	5.7%
1994	25%	5.82%
1995	24.7%	5.95%
1996	24.3%	6.11%
1997	23.9%	6.29%
1998	23.4%	6.56%
1999	22.9%	6.85%
2000	22.4%	7.11%
2001	21.8%	7.43%
2002	21.3%	7.69%
2003	20.7%	7.93%
2004	20.1%	8.1%
2005	19.4%	8.03%
2006	18.8%	7.75%
2007	18.1%	7.19%
2008	17.3%	6.42%
2009	16.6%	5.7%
2010	15.9%	5%
2011	15.2%	4.5%
2012	14.5%	4.25%
2013	13.9%	4.1%
2014	13.7%	3.96%
2015	13.8%	3.82%
2016	12.3%	3.68%
2017	11.8%	3.58%
2018	11.3%	3.49%
2019	10.9%	3.45%
2020	10.5%	3.41%
2021	10.1%	3.41%
2022	9.77%	3.44%
2023	9.43%	3.47%