Fertility & birth rates in Sierra Leone and Uganda

Fertility rate in Sierra Leone vs Uganda 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 4.28 in Uganda in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Sierra Leone vs Uganda 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	Uganda
1960	6.18	6.91
1961	6.21	6.93
1962	6.22	6.96
1963	6.26	6.98
1964	6.29	7.01
1965	6.31	7.04
1966	6.35	7.07
1967	6.38	7.1
1968	6.39	7.13
1969	6.39	7.12
1970	6.41	7.15
1971	6.43	7.18
1972	6.45	7.19
1973	6.47	7.19
1974	6.53	7.19
1975	6.55	7.2
1976	6.55	7.19
1977	6.57	7.18
1978	6.59	7.16
1979	6.58	7.14
1980	6.56	7.11
1981	6.55	7.12
1982	6.56	7.11
1983	6.57	7.07
1984	6.59	7.02
1985	6.59	7.04
1986	6.6	7.08
1987	6.61	7.12
1988	6.59	7.1
1989	6.57	7.05
1990	6.57	7.01
1991	6.55	6.94
1992	6.56	6.91
1993	6.57	6.89
1994	6.56	6.9
1995	6.56	6.87
1996	6.55	6.84
1997	6.53	6.86
1998	6.5	6.84
1999	6.42	6.83
2000	6.36	6.79
2001	6.31	6.76
2002	6.23	6.74
2003	6.09	6.67
2004	5.92	6.61
2005	5.81	6.53
2006	5.74	6.43
2007	5.64	6.33
2008	5.56	6.2
2009	5.45	6.12
2010	5.33	6.02
2011	5.21	5.89
2012	5.06	5.73
2013	4.87	5.56
2014	4.7	5.41
2015	4.55	5.25
2016	4.47	5.11
2017	4.39	4.99
2018	4.29	4.87
2019	4.19	4.74
2020	4.08	4.62
2021	3.98	4.51
2022	3.88	4.39
2023	3.79	4.28
2024	3.7	4.16
2025	3.61	4.06
2026	3.53	3.97
2027	3.47	3.87
2028	3.37	3.79
2029	3.3	3.69
2030	3.23	3.61
2031	3.18	3.53
2032	3.12	3.45
2033	3.07	3.38
2034	3.02	3.31
2035	2.97	3.25
2036	2.92	3.19
2037	2.88	3.14
2038	2.84	3.09
2039	2.79	3.04
2040	2.76	2.99
2041	2.72	2.94
2042	2.68	2.9
2043	2.65	2.86
2044	2.62	2.82
2045	2.58	2.78
2046	2.55	2.74
2047	2.53	2.71
2048	2.5	2.67
2049	2.47	2.64
2050	2.45	2.61

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sierra Leone	Uganda
1960	38.2%	46.3%
1961	38.3%	46.6%
1962	38.3%	46.8%
1963	38.5%	46.9%
1964	38.8%	46.8%
1965	39.1%	46.7%
1966	39.4%	46.6%
1967	39.6%	46.6%
1968	39.9%	46.5%
1969	40.1%	46.5%
1970	40.3%	46.5%
1971	40.6%	46.7%
1972	40.7%	46.9%
1973	40.9%	47.1%
1974	41.1%	47.3%
1975	41.3%	47.4%
1976	41.4%	47.5%
1977	41.6%	47.5%
1978	41.7%	47.6%
1979	41.8%	47.7%
1980	41.9%	47.9%
1981	42%	48%
1982	42.1%	48%
1983	42.2%	48.1%
1984	42.3%	48%
1985	42.5%	48%
1986	42.6%	48%
1987	42.7%	48%
1988	42.8%	48.1%
1989	42.9%	48.1%
1990	42.9%	48.2%
1991	43%	48.3%
1992	43.1%	48.4%
1993	43.2%	48.5%
1994	43.3%	48.6%
1995	43.4%	49.1%
1996	43.5%	49.4%
1997	43.5%	49.7%
1998	43.6%	49.9%
1999	43.7%	50%
2000	43.8%	50.1%
2001	43.9%	50.1%
2002	43.9%	50.1%
2003	43.9%	50.1%
2004	43.9%	50.1%
2005	43.8%	50.1%
2006	43.7%	50%
2007	43.6%	50%
2008	43.5%	49.8%
2009	43.4%	49.7%
2010	43.2%	49.5%
2011	43%	49.3%
2012	42.8%	49.1%
2013	42.5%	48.8%
2014	42.2%	48.5%
2015	41.8%	48.1%
2016	41.4%	47.5%
2017	41%	46.9%
2018	40.6%	46.3%
2019	40.2%	45.8%
2020	39.8%	45.2%
2021	39.4%	44.7%
2022	39%	44.3%
2023	38.5%	43.9%
2024	38.1%	43.5%
2025	37.7%	43.1%
2026	37.2%	42.7%
2027	36.8%	42.2%
2028	36.3%	41.8%
2029	35.9%	41.3%
2030	35.5%	40.9%
2031	35.2%	40.5%
2032	34.8%	40%
2033	34.4%	39.5%
2034	34%	39%
2035	33.6%	38.4%
2036	33.2%	37.8%
2037	32.8%	37.3%
2038	32.4%	36.7%
2039	32%	36.1%
2040	31.6%	35.6%
2041	31.2%	35.1%
2042	30.9%	34.6%
2043	30.5%	34.1%
2044	30.2%	33.6%
2045	29.8%	33.1%
2046	29.5%	32.7%
2047	29.2%	32.3%
2048	28.8%	31.8%
2049	28.5%	31.5%
2050	28.2%	31.1%

Children aged 0-14 make up 38.1% of the population in Sierra Leone and 43.5% in Uganda in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 48.2% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sierra Leone and Uganda compared.

Natural population change in Sierra Leone vs Uganda by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.31% in Sierra Leone and +3.17% in Uganda. 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	Uganda
1960	38,192	225,080
1961	40,022	232,894
1962	41,603	241,513
1963	43,569	250,885
1964	45,487	260,733
1965	47,223	271,830
1966	49,486	282,225
1967	51,734	296,692
1968	53,126	309,725
1969	54,768	320,486
1970	56,513	333,202
1971	58,484	328,294
1972	60,279	335,935
1973	62,443	340,780
1974	65,357	345,773
1975	67,560	354,278
1976	69,506	359,458
1977	71,663	365,216
1978	74,130	371,930
1979	75,992	381,626
1980	77,932	370,287
1981	80,111	380,028
1982	82,457	390,820
1983	84,628	404,940
1984	87,072	421,241
1985	88,869	462,534
1986	90,902	487,693
1987	94,235	527,397
1988	96,344	547,759
1989	98,298	565,367
1990	100,778	587,291
1991	105,477	602,740
1992	103,251	627,139
1993	103,317	650,032
1994	101,486	675,092
1995	100,885	697,218
1996	104,140	699,707
1997	105,433	727,523
1998	103,906	741,175
1999	102,295	775,166
2000	110,754	803,069
2001	116,647	836,751
2002	126,429	868,756
2003	130,312	901,374
2004	132,661	938,623
2005	137,234	969,096
2006	144,127	999,958
2007	145,740	1,029,893
2008	149,855	1,055,935
2009	152,669	1,090,600
2010	155,338	1,121,564
2011	158,858	1,147,263
2012	160,915	1,167,473
2013	161,265	1,184,250
2014	160,137	1,201,599
2015	162,275	1,224,839
2016	168,784	1,249,565
2017	173,259	1,290,658
2018	178,772	1,332,600
2019	181,068	1,367,044
2020	181,015	1,397,288
2021	183,326	1,423,377
2022	186,625	1,455,576
2023	188,788	1,477,166

Maternal mortality chart: Sierra Leone vs Uganda

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 170 deaths in Uganda.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sierra Leone	Uganda
1985	1,506	842
1986	1,530	781
1987	1,533	709
1988	1,549	655
1989	1,575	609
1990	1,572	575
1991	1,699	549
1992	1,681	530
1993	1,696	515
1994	1,755	507
1995	1,777	514
1996	1,726	513
1997	1,721	522
1998	1,753	523
1999	1,731	504
2000	1,603	475
2001	1,518	440
2002	1,492	416
2003	1,433	395
2004	1,366	384
2005	1,294	417
2006	1,168	409
2007	1,132	345
2008	1,093	324
2009	1,054	322
2010	1,018	304
2011	967	295
2012	915	285
2013	842	308
2014	821	311
2015	730	299
2016	633	272
2017	578	246
2018	491	232
2019	464	219
2020	422	209
2021	403	216
2022	370	184
2023	354	170

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 9.43% in Sierra Leone and 3.88% in Uganda. 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	Uganda
1960	39.1%	22.3%
1961	38.5%	21.9%
1962	38%	21.6%
1963	37.4%	21.3%
1964	36.8%	20.9%
1965	36.2%	20.6%
1966	35.6%	20.3%
1967	35%	19.9%
1968	34.5%	19.7%
1969	33.9%	19.4%
1970	33.4%	19.3%
1971	32.9%	19.3%
1972	32.3%	19.4%
1973	31.9%	19.6%
1974	31.4%	19.9%
1975	30.9%	20.3%
1976	30.5%	20.7%
1977	30%	21.2%
1978	29.6%	21.6%
1979	29.2%	21.8%
1980	28.9%	22%
1981	28.5%	21.9%
1982	28.1%	21.4%
1983	27.8%	20.9%
1984	27.5%	20.3%
1985	27.2%	19.9%
1986	26.9%	19.5%
1987	26.6%	19.2%
1988	26.4%	18.9%
1989	26.2%	18.7%
1990	25.9%	18.3%
1991	25.7%	17.9%
1992	25.5%	17.4%
1993	25.3%	17%
1994	25%	16.7%
1995	24.7%	16.5%
1996	24.3%	16.2%
1997	23.9%	16%
1998	23.4%	15.6%
1999	22.9%	15.2%
2000	22.4%	14.6%
2001	21.8%	13.9%
2002	21.3%	13.1%
2003	20.7%	12.3%
2004	20.1%	11.5%
2005	19.4%	10.7%
2006	18.8%	9.97%
2007	18.1%	9.3%
2008	17.3%	8.69%
2009	16.6%	8.14%
2010	15.9%	7.61%
2011	15.2%	7.1%
2012	14.5%	6.67%
2013	13.9%	6.24%
2014	13.7%	5.91%
2015	13.8%	5.58%
2016	12.3%	5.25%
2017	11.8%	4.98%
2018	11.3%	4.74%
2019	10.9%	4.53%
2020	10.5%	4.35%
2021	10.1%	4.18%
2022	9.77%	4.05%
2023	9.43%	3.88%