Fertility & birth rates in Somalia and South Sudan

Fertility rate in Somalia vs South Sudan chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Somalia was 6.13 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 Somalia 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
	Somalia	South Sudan
1960	7.25	7.16
1961	7.25	7.18
1962	7.26	7.2
1963	7.26	7.2
1964	7.26	7.22
1965	7.26	7.22
1966	7.26	7.25
1967	7.25	7.26
1968	7.23	7.26
1969	7.21	7.28
1970	7.18	7.29
1971	7.15	7.3
1972	7.12	7.31
1973	7.09	7.31
1974	7.06	7.31
1975	7.03	7.33
1976	7.02	7.33
1977	7	7.33
1978	7.13	7.33
1979	7.16	7.32
1980	7.18	7.33
1981	7.23	7.33
1982	7.25	7.34
1983	7.28	7.34
1984	7.3	7.35
1985	7.33	7.36
1986	7.35	7.38
1987	7.37	7.39
1988	7.4	7.38
1989	7.42	7.37
1990	7.44	7.38
1991	7.47	7.38
1992	7.5	7.37
1993	7.53	7.36
1994	7.54	7.35
1995	7.58	7.34
1996	7.62	7.32
1997	7.66	7.2
1998	7.66	7.08
1999	7.66	6.94
2000	7.65	6.8
2001	7.64	6.65
2002	7.63	6.52
2003	7.6	6.35
2004	7.57	6.19
2005	7.53	6.02
2006	7.49	5.85
2007	7.46	5.7
2008	7.42	5.57
2009	7.38	5.45
2010	7.32	5.32
2011	7.27	5.19
2012	7.21	5.06
2013	7.14	4.94
2014	7.06	4.82
2015	6.98	4.7
2016	6.88	4.58
2017	6.77	4.48
2018	6.66	4.37
2019	6.56	4.26
2020	6.45	4.16
2021	6.35	4.05
2022	6.26	3.96
2023	6.13	3.86
2024	6.01	3.79
2025	5.91	3.71
2026	5.8	3.63
2027	5.68	3.56
2028	5.58	3.49
2029	5.47	3.43
2030	5.35	3.37
2031	5.25	3.31
2032	5.14	3.26
2033	5.04	3.2
2034	4.94	3.15
2035	4.84	3.1
2036	4.74	3.06
2037	4.63	3.01
2038	4.52	2.96
2039	4.44	2.92
2040	4.35	2.88
2041	4.26	2.84
2042	4.16	2.8
2043	4.07	2.76
2044	3.99	2.73
2045	3.91	2.69
2046	3.84	2.66
2047	3.78	2.63
2048	3.71	2.6
2049	3.65	2.58
2050	3.6	2.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Somalia	South Sudan
1960	44.4%	42.5%
1961	44.7%	42.6%
1962	44.8%	42.6%
1963	45%	42.8%
1964	45.1%	43%
1965	45.1%	43.3%
1966	44.9%	43.5%
1967	44.8%	43.8%
1968	44.7%	44%
1969	44.6%	44.3%
1970	44.5%	44.5%
1971	44.5%	44.7%
1972	44.4%	44.8%
1973	44.4%	45%
1974	44.4%	45.1%
1975	44.3%	45.2%
1976	44.3%	45.3%
1977	44.3%	45.4%
1978	44.4%	45.5%
1979	44.5%	45.7%
1980	44.6%	45.8%
1981	44.8%	46%
1982	45%	46.2%
1983	45.2%	46.3%
1984	45.4%	46.5%
1985	45.6%	46.6%
1986	45.8%	46.7%
1987	46%	46.9%
1988	46.3%	46.2%
1989	46.7%	45.4%
1990	47%	45.4%
1991	47%	45.5%
1992	46.5%	45.6%
1993	46.4%	45.7%
1994	46.5%	45.8%
1995	46.7%	45.8%
1996	46.9%	46%
1997	47%	46%
1998	47.1%	45.8%
1999	47.2%	45.6%
2000	47.4%	45.5%
2001	47.5%	45.5%
2002	47.6%	45.7%
2003	47.7%	45.9%
2004	47.9%	45.8%
2005	48.2%	45.3%
2006	48.6%	44.8%
2007	48.9%	44.3%
2008	48.9%	43.8%
2009	48.8%	43.4%
2010	48.7%	42.8%
2011	48.3%	42.2%
2012	47.9%	41.9%
2013	47.8%	41.9%
2014	47.7%	42.5%
2015	47.6%	43.1%
2016	47.5%	43.7%
2017	47.4%	45%
2018	47.3%	44.9%
2019	47.1%	43.6%
2020	47%	42.4%
2021	47%	41.6%
2022	46.8%	40.9%
2023	46.7%	39.9%
2024	46.6%	38.9%
2025	46.6%	38%
2026	46.5%	37.1%
2027	46.4%	36.2%
2028	46.1%	35.5%
2029	45.8%	35%
2030	45.4%	34.7%
2031	45.1%	34.5%
2032	44.7%	34.4%
2033	44.3%	34.3%
2034	43.9%	34.3%
2035	43.5%	34.2%
2036	43.1%	34.1%
2037	42.6%	34%
2038	42.1%	33.8%
2039	41.7%	33.7%
2040	41.2%	33.4%
2041	40.8%	33.2%
2042	40.3%	32.9%
2043	39.9%	32.5%
2044	39.4%	32.2%
2045	39%	31.8%
2046	38.6%	31.4%
2047	38.2%	31%
2048	37.8%	30.5%
2049	37.4%	30.1%
2050	37%	29.7%

Children aged 0-14 make up 46.6% of the population in Somalia and 38.9% in South Sudan in 2024, compared to 47% and 45.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Somalia and South Sudan compared.

Natural population change in Somalia vs South Sudan by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +3.34% in Somalia 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
	Somalia	South Sudan
1960	73,850	42,945
1961	75,513	45,186
1962	77,737	47,406
1963	79,859	46,333
1964	82,042	64,786
1965	84,448	51,682
1966	86,930	38,523
1967	89,497	41,357
1968	92,208	44,213
1969	95,045	42,015
1970	98,025	44,776
1971	101,196	72,308
1972	104,493	74,803
1973	108,038	94,765
1974	104,813	97,181
1975	108,998	99,882
1976	113,319	102,346
1977	124,818	104,886
1978	132,689	107,352
1979	151,016	109,540
1980	174,790	112,307
1981	185,211	115,163
1982	182,793	118,641
1983	190,775	104,107
1984	199,017	90,970
1985	207,960	95,342
1986	218,416	99,502
1987	231,580	5,756
1988	215,599	-125,447
1989	225,255	83,735
1990	225,162	82,900
1991	53,052	87,873
1992	57,495	28,874
1993	232,960	32,779
1994	246,950	165,407
1995	254,509	110,417
1996	264,807	116,728
1997	271,894	121,454
1998	284,779	-12,157
1999	295,523	180,721
2000	306,651	196,055
2001	319,059	204,108
2002	331,215	212,014
2003	341,192	225,822
2004	351,959	231,877
2005	363,117	239,272
2006	372,597	246,706
2007	380,303	256,546
2008	394,258	268,268
2009	405,784	278,859
2010	385,571	287,409
2011	203,213	303,181
2012	399,468	312,974
2013	448,518	315,983
2014	464,481	227,611
2015	481,573	148,542
2016	495,132	110,553
2017	478,556	72,193
2018	514,244	168,497
2019	548,756	209,708
2020	561,311	212,332
2021	566,399	213,567
2022	551,450	211,166
2023	608,203	217,966

Maternal mortality chart: Somalia vs South Sudan

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 563 deaths per 100,000 live births in Somalia, compared to 692 deaths in South Sudan.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Somalia	South Sudan
1985	1,465	3,845
1986	1,452	3,720
1987	1,393	8,045
1988	1,423	5,535
1989	1,395	5,103
1990	1,358	4,877
1991	1,431	4,764
1992	1,339	7,597
1993	1,195	7,537
1994	1,254	1,666
1995	1,210	4,430
1996	1,225	4,357
1997	1,206	4,172
1998	1,177	7,514
1999	1,170	2,048
2000	1,150	1,658
2001	1,129	1,580
2002	1,121	1,521
2003	1,111	1,199
2004	1,104	1,150
2005	1,086	1,074
2006	1,085	1,005
2007	1,074	933
2008	1,035	858
2009	995	823
2010	1,062	776
2011	972	770
2012	894	755
2013	855	771
2014	816	1,216
2015	784	1,436
2016	754	1,629
2017	716	1,662
2018	727	913
2019	656	745
2020	655	729
2021	726	749
2022	622	704
2023	563	692

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 10.4% in Somalia 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
	Somalia	South Sudan
1960	-	35.5%
1961	-	35.2%
1962	-	34.9%
1963	-	34.6%
1964	-	34.3%
1965	-	34%
1966	-	33.6%
1967	-	33.3%
1968	-	32.9%
1969	-	32.6%
1970	-	32.3%
1971	-	31.9%
1972	-	31.6%
1973	-	31.3%
1974	-	30.9%
1975	-	30.6%
1976	-	30.2%
1977	-	29.9%
1978	-	29.5%
1979	-	29.2%
1980	-	28.9%
1981	-	28.5%
1982	20.1%	28.2%
1983	19.8%	27.8%
1984	19.5%	27.5%
1985	19.3%	27.1%
1986	19%	26.7%
1987	18.8%	36%
1988	18.6%	76.7%
1989	18.3%	30.7%
1990	18%	30.3%
1991	44.3%	29.7%
1992	45.6%	33.8%
1993	17.3%	33.1%
1994	17.2%	23%
1995	17.2%	27%
1996	17.2%	26.1%
1997	17.2%	25.2%
1998	17.2%	42.6%
1999	17.2%	19.2%
2000	17.2%	18.3%
2001	17.2%	17.4%
2002	17.2%	16.5%
2003	17.2%	15.7%
2004	17.2%	14.8%
2005	17.2%	14.1%
2006	17.2%	13.4%
2007	17%	12.7%
2008	16.6%	12.1%
2009	16.2%	11.5%
2010	18.6%	10.9%
2011	35.9%	10.5%
2012	18.4%	10.1%
2013	14.3%	9.92%
2014	13.8%	18.2%
2015	13.4%	23.7%
2016	13%	26.4%
2017	15.5%	27.8%
2018	13.6%	13.2%
2019	11.8%	9.87%
2020	11.4%	9.87%
2021	11.1%	9.87%
2022	14.3%	9.87%
2023	10.4%	9.87%