Fertility & birth rates in Sierra Leone and South Sudan

Fertility rate in Sierra Leone vs South Sudan 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 3.86 in South Sudan in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Sierra Leone vs South Sudan 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 Sudan
1960	6.18	7.16
1961	6.21	7.18
1962	6.22	7.2
1963	6.26	7.2
1964	6.29	7.22
1965	6.31	7.22
1966	6.35	7.25
1967	6.38	7.26
1968	6.39	7.26
1969	6.39	7.28
1970	6.41	7.29
1971	6.43	7.3
1972	6.45	7.31
1973	6.47	7.31
1974	6.53	7.31
1975	6.55	7.33
1976	6.55	7.33
1977	6.57	7.33
1978	6.59	7.33
1979	6.58	7.32
1980	6.56	7.33
1981	6.55	7.33
1982	6.56	7.34
1983	6.57	7.34
1984	6.59	7.35
1985	6.59	7.36
1986	6.6	7.38
1987	6.61	7.39
1988	6.59	7.38
1989	6.57	7.37
1990	6.57	7.38
1991	6.55	7.38
1992	6.56	7.37
1993	6.57	7.36
1994	6.56	7.35
1995	6.56	7.34
1996	6.55	7.32
1997	6.53	7.2
1998	6.5	7.08
1999	6.42	6.94
2000	6.36	6.8
2001	6.31	6.65
2002	6.23	6.52
2003	6.09	6.35
2004	5.92	6.19
2005	5.81	6.02
2006	5.74	5.85
2007	5.64	5.7
2008	5.56	5.57
2009	5.45	5.45
2010	5.33	5.32
2011	5.21	5.19
2012	5.06	5.06
2013	4.87	4.94
2014	4.7	4.82
2015	4.55	4.7
2016	4.47	4.58
2017	4.39	4.48
2018	4.29	4.37
2019	4.19	4.26
2020	4.08	4.16
2021	3.98	4.05
2022	3.88	3.96
2023	3.79	3.86
2024	3.7	3.79
2025	3.61	3.71
2026	3.53	3.63
2027	3.47	3.56
2028	3.37	3.49
2029	3.3	3.43
2030	3.23	3.37
2031	3.18	3.31
2032	3.12	3.26
2033	3.07	3.2
2034	3.02	3.15
2035	2.97	3.1
2036	2.92	3.06
2037	2.88	3.01
2038	2.84	2.96
2039	2.79	2.92
2040	2.76	2.88
2041	2.72	2.84
2042	2.68	2.8
2043	2.65	2.76
2044	2.62	2.73
2045	2.58	2.69
2046	2.55	2.66
2047	2.53	2.63
2048	2.5	2.6
2049	2.47	2.58
2050	2.45	2.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sierra Leone	South Sudan
1960	38.2%	42.5%
1961	38.3%	42.6%
1962	38.3%	42.6%
1963	38.5%	42.8%
1964	38.8%	43%
1965	39.1%	43.3%
1966	39.4%	43.5%
1967	39.6%	43.8%
1968	39.9%	44%
1969	40.1%	44.3%
1970	40.3%	44.5%
1971	40.6%	44.7%
1972	40.7%	44.8%
1973	40.9%	45%
1974	41.1%	45.1%
1975	41.3%	45.2%
1976	41.4%	45.3%
1977	41.6%	45.4%
1978	41.7%	45.5%
1979	41.8%	45.7%
1980	41.9%	45.8%
1981	42%	46%
1982	42.1%	46.2%
1983	42.2%	46.3%
1984	42.3%	46.5%
1985	42.5%	46.6%
1986	42.6%	46.7%
1987	42.7%	46.9%
1988	42.8%	46.2%
1989	42.9%	45.4%
1990	42.9%	45.4%
1991	43%	45.5%
1992	43.1%	45.6%
1993	43.2%	45.7%
1994	43.3%	45.8%
1995	43.4%	45.8%
1996	43.5%	46%
1997	43.5%	46%
1998	43.6%	45.8%
1999	43.7%	45.6%
2000	43.8%	45.5%
2001	43.9%	45.5%
2002	43.9%	45.7%
2003	43.9%	45.9%
2004	43.9%	45.8%
2005	43.8%	45.3%
2006	43.7%	44.8%
2007	43.6%	44.3%
2008	43.5%	43.8%
2009	43.4%	43.4%
2010	43.2%	42.8%
2011	43%	42.2%
2012	42.8%	41.9%
2013	42.5%	41.9%
2014	42.2%	42.5%
2015	41.8%	43.1%
2016	41.4%	43.7%
2017	41%	45%
2018	40.6%	44.9%
2019	40.2%	43.6%
2020	39.8%	42.4%
2021	39.4%	41.6%
2022	39%	40.9%
2023	38.5%	39.9%
2024	38.1%	38.9%
2025	37.7%	38%
2026	37.2%	37.1%
2027	36.8%	36.2%
2028	36.3%	35.5%
2029	35.9%	35%
2030	35.5%	34.7%
2031	35.2%	34.5%
2032	34.8%	34.4%
2033	34.4%	34.3%
2034	34%	34.3%
2035	33.6%	34.2%
2036	33.2%	34.1%
2037	32.8%	34%
2038	32.4%	33.8%
2039	32%	33.7%
2040	31.6%	33.4%
2041	31.2%	33.2%
2042	30.9%	32.9%
2043	30.5%	32.5%
2044	30.2%	32.2%
2045	29.8%	31.8%
2046	29.5%	31.4%
2047	29.2%	31%
2048	28.8%	30.5%
2049	28.5%	30.1%
2050	28.2%	29.7%

Children aged 0-14 make up 38.1% of the population in Sierra Leone and 38.9% in South Sudan in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 45.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sierra Leone and South Sudan compared.

Natural population change in Sierra Leone vs South Sudan by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.31% in Sierra Leone and +1.65% in South Sudan. 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 Sudan
1960	38,192	42,945
1961	40,022	45,186
1962	41,603	47,406
1963	43,569	46,333
1964	45,487	64,786
1965	47,223	51,682
1966	49,486	38,523
1967	51,734	41,357
1968	53,126	44,213
1969	54,768	42,015
1970	56,513	44,776
1971	58,484	72,308
1972	60,279	74,803
1973	62,443	94,765
1974	65,357	97,181
1975	67,560	99,882
1976	69,506	102,346
1977	71,663	104,886
1978	74,130	107,352
1979	75,992	109,540
1980	77,932	112,307
1981	80,111	115,163
1982	82,457	118,641
1983	84,628	104,107
1984	87,072	90,970
1985	88,869	95,342
1986	90,902	99,502
1987	94,235	5,756
1988	96,344	-125,447
1989	98,298	83,735
1990	100,778	82,900
1991	105,477	87,873
1992	103,251	28,874
1993	103,317	32,779
1994	101,486	165,407
1995	100,885	110,417
1996	104,140	116,728
1997	105,433	121,454
1998	103,906	-12,157
1999	102,295	180,721
2000	110,754	196,055
2001	116,647	204,108
2002	126,429	212,014
2003	130,312	225,822
2004	132,661	231,877
2005	137,234	239,272
2006	144,127	246,706
2007	145,740	256,546
2008	149,855	268,268
2009	152,669	278,859
2010	155,338	287,409
2011	158,858	303,181
2012	160,915	312,974
2013	161,265	315,983
2014	160,137	227,611
2015	162,275	148,542
2016	168,784	110,553
2017	173,259	72,193
2018	178,772	168,497
2019	181,068	209,708
2020	181,015	212,332
2021	183,326	213,567
2022	186,625	211,166
2023	188,788	217,966

Maternal mortality chart: Sierra Leone vs South Sudan

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 692 deaths in South Sudan.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sierra Leone	South Sudan
1985	1,506	3,845
1986	1,530	3,720
1987	1,533	8,045
1988	1,549	5,535
1989	1,575	5,103
1990	1,572	4,877
1991	1,699	4,764
1992	1,681	7,597
1993	1,696	7,537
1994	1,755	1,666
1995	1,777	4,430
1996	1,726	4,357
1997	1,721	4,172
1998	1,753	7,514
1999	1,731	2,048
2000	1,603	1,658
2001	1,518	1,580
2002	1,492	1,521
2003	1,433	1,199
2004	1,366	1,150
2005	1,294	1,074
2006	1,168	1,005
2007	1,132	933
2008	1,093	858
2009	1,054	823
2010	1,018	776
2011	967	770
2012	915	755
2013	842	771
2014	821	1,216
2015	730	1,436
2016	633	1,629
2017	578	1,662
2018	491	913
2019	464	745
2020	422	729
2021	403	749
2022	370	704
2023	354	692

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 9.43% in Sierra Leone and 9.87% in South Sudan. 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 Sudan
1960	39.1%	35.5%
1961	38.5%	35.2%
1962	38%	34.9%
1963	37.4%	34.6%
1964	36.8%	34.3%
1965	36.2%	34%
1966	35.6%	33.6%
1967	35%	33.3%
1968	34.5%	32.9%
1969	33.9%	32.6%
1970	33.4%	32.3%
1971	32.9%	31.9%
1972	32.3%	31.6%
1973	31.9%	31.3%
1974	31.4%	30.9%
1975	30.9%	30.6%
1976	30.5%	30.2%
1977	30%	29.9%
1978	29.6%	29.5%
1979	29.2%	29.2%
1980	28.9%	28.9%
1981	28.5%	28.5%
1982	28.1%	28.2%
1983	27.8%	27.8%
1984	27.5%	27.5%
1985	27.2%	27.1%
1986	26.9%	26.7%
1987	26.6%	36%
1988	26.4%	76.7%
1989	26.2%	30.7%
1990	25.9%	30.3%
1991	25.7%	29.7%
1992	25.5%	33.8%
1993	25.3%	33.1%
1994	25%	23%
1995	24.7%	27%
1996	24.3%	26.1%
1997	23.9%	25.2%
1998	23.4%	42.6%
1999	22.9%	19.2%
2000	22.4%	18.3%
2001	21.8%	17.4%
2002	21.3%	16.5%
2003	20.7%	15.7%
2004	20.1%	14.8%
2005	19.4%	14.1%
2006	18.8%	13.4%
2007	18.1%	12.7%
2008	17.3%	12.1%
2009	16.6%	11.5%
2010	15.9%	10.9%
2011	15.2%	10.5%
2012	14.5%	10.1%
2013	13.9%	9.92%
2014	13.7%	18.2%
2015	13.8%	23.7%
2016	12.3%	26.4%
2017	11.8%	27.8%
2018	11.3%	13.2%
2019	10.9%	9.87%
2020	10.5%	9.87%
2021	10.1%	9.87%
2022	9.77%	9.87%
2023	9.43%	9.87%