Fertility & birth rates in Sierra Leone and Zambia

Fertility rate in Sierra Leone vs Zambia 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 4.1 in Zambia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Sierra Leone vs Zambia 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	Zambia
1960	6.18	6.95
1961	6.21	6.98
1962	6.22	7.01
1963	6.26	7.06
1964	6.29	7.09
1965	6.31	7.12
1966	6.35	7.14
1967	6.38	7.15
1968	6.39	7.18
1969	6.39	7.18
1970	6.41	7.22
1971	6.43	7.26
1972	6.45	7.3
1973	6.47	7.34
1974	6.53	7.36
1975	6.55	7.42
1976	6.55	7.39
1977	6.57	7.35
1978	6.59	7.29
1979	6.58	7.22
1980	6.56	7.14
1981	6.55	7.07
1982	6.56	7.04
1983	6.57	7.01
1984	6.59	6.97
1985	6.59	6.93
1986	6.6	6.87
1987	6.61	6.8
1988	6.59	6.7
1989	6.57	6.64
1990	6.57	6.57
1991	6.55	6.46
1992	6.56	6.35
1993	6.57	6.3
1994	6.56	6.26
1995	6.56	6.23
1996	6.55	6.18
1997	6.53	6.12
1998	6.5	6.07
1999	6.42	6
2000	6.36	5.92
2001	6.31	5.85
2002	6.23	5.77
2003	6.09	5.71
2004	5.92	5.7
2005	5.81	5.7
2006	5.74	5.68
2007	5.64	5.61
2008	5.56	5.53
2009	5.45	5.45
2010	5.33	5.36
2011	5.21	5.26
2012	5.06	5.14
2013	4.87	5.01
2014	4.7	4.89
2015	4.55	4.78
2016	4.47	4.67
2017	4.39	4.57
2018	4.29	4.49
2019	4.19	4.42
2020	4.08	4.32
2021	3.98	4.25
2022	3.88	4.18
2023	3.79	4.1
2024	3.7	4.04
2025	3.61	3.97
2026	3.53	3.91
2027	3.47	3.85
2028	3.37	3.77
2029	3.3	3.72
2030	3.23	3.67
2031	3.18	3.61
2032	3.12	3.56
2033	3.07	3.5
2034	3.02	3.45
2035	2.97	3.4
2036	2.92	3.35
2037	2.88	3.3
2038	2.84	3.25
2039	2.79	3.19
2040	2.76	3.15
2041	2.72	3.11
2042	2.68	3.07
2043	2.65	3.03
2044	2.62	3
2045	2.58	2.96
2046	2.55	2.93
2047	2.53	2.9
2048	2.5	2.87
2049	2.47	2.84
2050	2.45	2.81

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sierra Leone	Zambia
1960	38.2%	46%
1961	38.3%	46.2%
1962	38.3%	46.3%
1963	38.5%	46.5%
1964	38.8%	46.7%
1965	39.1%	46.9%
1966	39.4%	46.9%
1967	39.6%	47%
1968	39.9%	47.1%
1969	40.1%	47.2%
1970	40.3%	47.4%
1971	40.6%	47.7%
1972	40.7%	48%
1973	40.9%	48.3%
1974	41.1%	48.6%
1975	41.3%	48.8%
1976	41.4%	49.1%
1977	41.6%	49.2%
1978	41.7%	49.4%
1979	41.8%	49.5%
1980	41.9%	49.5%
1981	42%	49.4%
1982	42.1%	49.3%
1983	42.2%	49.1%
1984	42.3%	49%
1985	42.5%	48.9%
1986	42.6%	48.8%
1987	42.7%	48.7%
1988	42.8%	48.6%
1989	42.9%	48.5%
1990	42.9%	48.4%
1991	43%	48.3%
1992	43.1%	48.2%
1993	43.2%	48.2%
1994	43.3%	48.2%
1995	43.4%	48.2%
1996	43.5%	48.2%
1997	43.5%	48.2%
1998	43.6%	48.2%
1999	43.7%	48.1%
2000	43.8%	48%
2001	43.9%	47.8%
2002	43.9%	47.6%
2003	43.9%	47.4%
2004	43.9%	47.3%
2005	43.8%	47.1%
2006	43.7%	47%
2007	43.6%	46.8%
2008	43.5%	46.6%
2009	43.4%	46.4%
2010	43.2%	46.3%
2011	43%	46.1%
2012	42.8%	45.9%
2013	42.5%	45.7%
2014	42.2%	45.5%
2015	41.8%	45.2%
2016	41.4%	44.9%
2017	41%	44.5%
2018	40.6%	44.1%
2019	40.2%	43.8%
2020	39.8%	43.3%
2021	39.4%	42.9%
2022	39%	42.4%
2023	38.5%	42%
2024	38.1%	41.5%
2025	37.7%	41%
2026	37.2%	40.5%
2027	36.8%	40%
2028	36.3%	39.6%
2029	35.9%	39.2%
2030	35.5%	38.8%
2031	35.2%	38.5%
2032	34.8%	38.1%
2033	34.4%	37.8%
2034	34%	37.5%
2035	33.6%	37.1%
2036	33.2%	36.8%
2037	32.8%	36.5%
2038	32.4%	36.1%
2039	32%	35.8%
2040	31.6%	35.4%
2041	31.2%	35.1%
2042	30.9%	34.7%
2043	30.5%	34.4%
2044	30.2%	34%
2045	29.8%	33.7%
2046	29.5%	33.3%
2047	29.2%	33%
2048	28.8%	32.6%
2049	28.5%	32.3%
2050	28.2%	32%

Children aged 0-14 make up 38.1% of the population in Sierra Leone and 41.5% in Zambia in 2024, compared to 42.9% and 48.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sierra Leone and Zambia compared.

Natural population change in Sierra Leone vs Zambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.31% in Sierra Leone and +2.87% in Zambia. 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	Zambia
1960	38,192	102,335
1961	40,022	106,318
1962	41,603	110,173
1963	43,569	114,555
1964	45,487	117,197
1965	47,223	122,814
1966	49,486	127,164
1967	51,734	131,938
1968	53,126	137,315
1969	54,768	142,660
1970	56,513	149,380
1971	58,484	155,249
1972	60,279	161,648
1973	62,443	168,258
1974	65,357	174,484
1975	67,560	182,258
1976	69,506	186,762
1977	71,663	191,557
1978	74,130	194,933
1979	75,992	197,578
1980	77,932	198,817
1981	80,111	202,822
1982	82,457	207,621
1983	84,628	212,712
1984	87,072	216,695
1985	88,869	221,351
1986	90,902	224,768
1987	94,235	227,813
1988	96,344	230,118
1989	98,298	233,429
1990	100,778	235,835
1991	105,477	237,957
1992	103,251	239,953
1993	103,317	245,917
1994	101,486	252,023
1995	100,885	257,897
1996	104,140	262,468
1997	105,433	268,198
1998	103,906	275,568
1999	102,295	283,297
2000	110,754	293,186
2001	116,647	302,682
2002	126,429	316,041
2003	130,312	331,189
2004	132,661	349,352
2005	137,234	368,756
2006	144,127	387,891
2007	145,740	403,729
2008	149,855	419,560
2009	152,669	434,458
2010	155,338	448,337
2011	158,858	459,743
2012	160,915	469,406
2013	161,265	476,846
2014	160,137	483,663
2015	162,275	491,021
2016	168,784	497,521
2017	173,259	504,630
2018	178,772	515,644
2019	181,068	528,089
2020	181,015	536,484
2021	183,326	535,629
2022	186,625	563,456
2023	188,788	577,660

Maternal mortality chart: Sierra Leone vs Zambia

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 85 deaths in Zambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sierra Leone	Zambia
1985	1,506	596
1986	1,530	619
1987	1,533	630
1988	1,549	635
1989	1,575	635
1990	1,572	625
1991	1,699	611
1992	1,681	581
1993	1,696	532
1994	1,755	507
1995	1,777	466
1996	1,726	433
1997	1,721	403
1998	1,753	392
1999	1,731	378
2000	1,603	340
2001	1,518	306
2002	1,492	274
2003	1,433	250
2004	1,366	260
2005	1,294	264
2006	1,168	262
2007	1,132	324
2008	1,093	394
2009	1,054	406
2010	1,018	332
2011	967	291
2012	915	256
2013	842	213
2014	821	174
2015	730	154
2016	633	158
2017	578	141
2018	491	117
2019	464	103
2020	422	99
2021	403	140
2022	370	89
2023	354	85

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 9.43% in Sierra Leone and 4.47% in Zambia. 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	Zambia
1960	39.1%	20.5%
1961	38.5%	20.1%
1962	38%	19.8%
1963	37.4%	19.5%
1964	36.8%	19.2%
1965	36.2%	19%
1966	35.6%	18.9%
1967	35%	18.7%
1968	34.5%	18.5%
1969	33.9%	18.3%
1970	33.4%	17.9%
1971	32.9%	17.4%
1972	32.3%	16.9%
1973	31.9%	16.3%
1974	31.4%	15.9%
1975	30.9%	15.5%
1976	30.5%	15.4%
1977	30%	15.3%
1978	29.6%	15.3%
1979	29.2%	15.4%
1980	28.9%	15.5%
1981	28.5%	15.6%
1982	28.1%	15.7%
1983	27.8%	15.9%
1984	27.5%	16.2%
1985	27.2%	16.6%
1986	26.9%	17%
1987	26.6%	17.3%
1988	26.4%	17.7%
1989	26.2%	17.9%
1990	25.9%	18.1%
1991	25.7%	18.1%
1992	25.5%	18.1%
1993	25.3%	17.9%
1994	25%	17.7%
1995	24.7%	17.3%
1996	24.3%	17%
1997	23.9%	16.7%
1998	23.4%	16.3%
1999	22.9%	15.9%
2000	22.4%	15.3%
2001	21.8%	14.4%
2002	21.3%	13.4%
2003	20.7%	12.4%
2004	20.1%	11.4%
2005	19.4%	10.5%
2006	18.8%	9.71%
2007	18.1%	9.14%
2008	17.3%	8.62%
2009	16.6%	8%
2010	15.9%	7.57%
2011	15.2%	7.31%
2012	14.5%	7.04%
2013	13.9%	6.72%
2014	13.7%	6.38%
2015	13.8%	6.15%
2016	12.3%	5.9%
2017	11.8%	5.61%
2018	11.3%	5.52%
2019	10.9%	5.41%
2020	10.5%	5.24%
2021	10.1%	4.92%
2022	9.77%	4.67%
2023	9.43%	4.47%