Fertility & birth rates in Singapore and South Korea

Fertility rate in Singapore vs South Korea chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Singapore was 0.97 children per woman in 2023, compared to 0.72 in South Korea in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Singapore vs South Korea population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Singapore	South Korea
1960	5.76	5.99
1961	5.41	5.8
1962	5.21	5.56
1963	5.16	5.33
1964	4.97	5.07
1965	4.66	4.89
1966	4.46	4.78
1967	3.91	4.62
1968	3.53	4.51
1969	3.22	4.45
1970	3.07	4.53
1971	3.02	4.54
1972	3.04	4.12
1973	2.79	4.07
1974	2.35	3.77
1975	2.07	3.43
1976	2.11	3
1977	1.82	2.99
1978	1.79	2.64
1979	1.79	2.9
1980	1.82	2.82
1981	1.78	2.57
1982	1.74	2.39
1983	1.61	2.06
1984	1.62	1.74
1985	1.61	1.66
1986	1.43	1.58
1987	1.62	1.53
1988	1.96	1.55
1989	1.75	1.56
1990	1.83	1.57
1991	1.73	1.71
1992	1.72	1.76
1993	1.74	1.65
1994	1.71	1.66
1995	1.67	1.63
1996	1.66	1.57
1997	1.61	1.54
1998	1.48	1.46
1999	1.47	1.43
2000	1.6	1.48
2001	1.41	1.31
2002	1.37	1.18
2003	1.27	1.19
2004	1.26	1.16
2005	1.26	1.09
2006	1.28	1.13
2007	1.29	1.26
2008	1.28	1.19
2009	1.22	1.15
2010	1.15	1.23
2011	1.2	1.24
2012	1.29	1.3
2013	1.19	1.19
2014	1.25	1.21
2015	1.24	1.24
2016	1.2	1.17
2017	1.16	1.05
2018	1.14	0.98
2019	1.14	0.92
2020	1.1	0.84
2021	1.12	0.81
2022	1.04	0.78
2023	0.97	0.72
2024	0.98	0.73
2025	0.99	0.75
2026	1	0.76
2027	1.01	0.78
2028	1.02	0.79
2029	1.03	0.8
2030	1.03	0.82
2031	1.04	0.83
2032	1.05	0.84
2033	1.06	0.85
2034	1.07	0.86
2035	1.07	0.88
2036	1.08	0.89
2037	1.09	0.9
2038	1.1	0.91
2039	1.1	0.92
2040	1.11	0.93
2041	1.12	0.95
2042	1.13	0.96
2043	1.13	0.96
2044	1.14	0.97
2045	1.15	0.98
2046	1.16	0.99
2047	1.17	1
2048	1.17	1.01
2049	1.18	1.02
2050	1.19	1.03

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Singapore	South Korea
1960	44.7%	41.3%
1961	44.8%	41.8%
1962	44.7%	42.3%
1963	44.4%	42.7%
1964	43.8%	43.1%
1965	43.2%	43.3%
1966	42.5%	43.5%
1967	41.7%	43.3%
1968	40.8%	43.1%
1969	39.8%	42.7%
1970	38.7%	42.1%
1971	37.5%	41.5%
1972	36.2%	41%
1973	35%	40.3%
1974	33.7%	39.5%
1975	32.5%	38.5%
1976	31.2%	37.5%
1977	30%	36.5%
1978	28.8%	35.6%
1979	27.6%	34.8%
1980	26.4%	34%
1981	25.2%	33.3%
1982	24.2%	32.7%
1983	23.7%	32%
1984	23.3%	31.2%
1985	23.1%	30.2%
1986	22.9%	29.2%
1987	22.4%	28.2%
1988	22%	27.3%
1989	21.7%	26.5%
1990	21.4%	25.8%
1991	21.2%	25.2%
1992	21.1%	24.7%
1993	21%	24.2%
1994	20.7%	23.7%
1995	20.4%	23.1%
1996	20%	22.5%
1997	19.5%	22%
1998	19.2%	21.6%
1999	19%	21.2%
2000	18.8%	21%
2001	18.6%	20.8%
2002	18.4%	20.5%
2003	18.2%	20.1%
2004	17.8%	19.7%
2005	17.2%	19.2%
2006	16.6%	18.7%
2007	15.8%	18.1%
2008	15.1%	17.5%
2009	14.6%	16.9%
2010	14.1%	16.4%
2011	13.7%	15.8%
2012	13.4%	15.2%
2013	13.1%	14.7%
2014	12.9%	14.2%
2015	12.7%	13.8%
2016	12.5%	13.4%
2017	12.4%	13%
2018	12.3%	12.7%
2019	12.2%	12.4%
2020	12.2%	12.1%
2021	12.2%	11.8%
2022	12%	11.4%
2023	11.8%	11%
2024	11.7%	10.6%
2025	11.7%	10.2%
2026	11.7%	9.82%
2027	11.8%	9.42%
2028	11.9%	9.06%
2029	12%	8.75%
2030	12%	8.43%
2031	12%	8.15%
2032	12.1%	7.94%
2033	12.1%	7.79%
2034	12.1%	7.7%
2035	12.1%	7.66%
2036	12.1%	7.65%
2037	12.1%	7.66%
2038	12%	7.68%
2039	11.8%	7.71%
2040	11.7%	7.73%
2041	11.5%	7.75%
2042	11.2%	7.76%
2043	11%	7.77%
2044	10.7%	7.78%
2045	10.4%	7.79%
2046	10.1%	7.8%
2047	9.87%	7.81%
2048	9.6%	7.82%
2049	9.35%	7.82%
2050	9.12%	7.83%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.7% of the population in Singapore and 10.6% in South Korea in 2024, compared to 21.4% and 25.8% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Singapore and South Korea compared.

Natural population change in Singapore vs South Korea by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.35% in Singapore and +0.06% in South Korea. 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
	Singapore	South Korea
1960	51,533	728,010
1961	49,880	730,173
1962	48,830	712,590
1963	49,542	685,824
1964	47,697	655,501
1965	45,474	641,090
1966	44,298	623,534
1967	40,145	692,169
1968	36,216	684,487
1969	34,314	694,227
1970	35,059	747,987
1971	35,708	789,185
1972	38,098	740,469
1973	36,404	699,115
1974	31,664	673,030
1975	28,509	603,300
1976	31,189	530,558
1977	26,508	578,947
1978	27,537	499,084
1979	28,363	623,068
1980	30,657	583,294
1981	32,167	631,189
1982	33,346	605,626
1983	30,296	514,844
1984	31,967	436,384
1985	32,010	416,219
1986	27,880	395,651
1987	33,020	378,758
1988	42,407	399,297
1989	36,929	403,266
1990	41,136	411,546
1991	39,188	467,594
1992	39,091	494,352
1993	40,425	477,302
1994	39,319	473,200
1995	38,065	468,967
1996	38,542	446,142
1997	37,960	422,773
1998	33,381	393,436
1999	32,857	368,272
2000	37,057	390,167
2001	31,035	312,643
2002	29,231	247,752
2003	24,689	244,251
2004	24,583	225,988
2005	24,741	187,920
2006	25,968	203,441
2007	26,614	248,286
2008	28,068	215,841
2009	27,930	197,231
2010	24,876	213,083
2011	25,919	214,728
2012	29,750	215,859
2013	25,376	166,415
2014	27,896	167,464
2015	27,121	163,248
2016	25,794	122,923
2017	21,888	71,907
2018	21,427	30,951
2019	21,674	10,353
2020	18,763	-31,101
2021	15,270	-56,947
2022	9,019	-124,014
2023	7,101	-77,569

Maternal mortality chart: Singapore vs South Korea

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 6 deaths per 100,000 live births in Singapore, compared to 4 deaths in South Korea.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Singapore	South Korea
1985	18	38
1986	18	35
1987	18	34
1988	18	31
1989	18	29
1990	17	28
1991	16	28
1992	16	26
1993	16	24
1994	16	23
1995	17	22
1996	17	20
1997	17	19
1998	17	18
1999	17	17
2000	17	15
2001	16	14
2002	16	13
2003	15	13
2004	14	12
2005	14	11
2006	13	10
2007	12	10
2008	11	9
2009	10	9
2010	10	8
2011	10	8
2012	10	8
2013	9	7
2014	9	7
2015	8	6
2016	8	6
2017	8	6
2018	8	5
2019	7	5
2020	13	12
2021	20	5
2022	34	7
2023	6	4

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.21% in Singapore and 0.28% in South Korea. 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
	Singapore	South Korea
1960	4.76%	11.2%
1961	4.37%	10.6%
1962	4.05%	10.1%
1963	3.81%	9.67%
1964	3.64%	9.18%
1965	3.5%	8.68%
1966	3.34%	8.16%
1967	3.18%	7.62%
1968	3.01%	7.1%
1969	2.86%	6.59%
1970	2.71%	6.12%
1971	2.56%	5.71%
1972	2.39%	5.36%
1973	2.18%	5.07%
1974	1.95%	4.82%
1975	1.75%	4.61%
1976	1.62%	4.42%
1977	1.54%	4.23%
1978	1.51%	4.04%
1979	1.49%	3.84%
1980	1.46%	3.63%
1981	1.4%	3.4%
1982	1.32%	3.17%
1983	1.23%	2.93%
1984	1.16%	2.7%
1985	1.09%	2.46%
1986	1.03%	2.25%
1987	0.97%	2.05%
1988	0.91%	1.87%
1989	0.84%	1.71%
1990	0.77%	1.57%
1991	0.7%	1.44%
1992	0.63%	1.33%
1993	0.58%	1.23%
1994	0.54%	1.14%
1995	0.51%	1.05%
1996	0.48%	0.98%
1997	0.46%	0.91%
1998	0.44%	0.85%
1999	0.41%	0.8%
2000	0.38%	0.75%
2001	0.36%	0.71%
2002	0.34%	0.68%
2003	0.32%	0.64%
2004	0.31%	0.6%
2005	0.3%	0.56%
2006	0.29%	0.52%
2007	0.29%	0.48%
2008	0.28%	0.45%
2009	0.28%	0.43%
2010	0.28%	0.41%
2011	0.28%	0.4%
2012	0.28%	0.38%
2013	0.28%	0.37%
2014	0.27%	0.36%
2015	0.27%	0.35%
2016	0.27%	0.34%
2017	0.26%	0.33%
2018	0.25%	0.32%
2019	0.24%	0.31%
2020	0.23%	0.3%
2021	0.22%	0.29%
2022	0.22%	0.28%
2023	0.21%	0.28%