Fertility & birth rates in South Korea and Sri Lanka

Fertility rate in South Korea vs Sri Lanka chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in South Korea was 0.72 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.97 in Sri Lanka in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

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

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	South Korea	Sri Lanka
1960	5.99	5.35
1961	5.8	5.24
1962	5.56	5.18
1963	5.33	5.12
1964	5.07	5.06
1965	4.89	4.93
1966	4.78	4.83
1967	4.62	4.79
1968	4.51	4.66
1969	4.45	4.5
1970	4.53	4.39
1971	4.54	4.27
1972	4.12	4.16
1973	4.07	4
1974	3.77	3.86
1975	3.43	3.82
1976	3	3.78
1977	2.99	3.74
1978	2.64	3.81
1979	2.9	3.82
1980	2.82	3.73
1981	2.57	3.65
1982	2.39	3.32
1983	2.06	3.11
1984	1.74	3.01
1985	1.66	2.9
1986	1.58	2.74
1987	1.53	2.64
1988	1.55	2.57
1989	1.56	2.58
1990	1.57	2.54
1991	1.71	2.51
1992	1.76	2.49
1993	1.65	2.44
1994	1.66	2.4
1995	1.63	2.35
1996	1.57	2.29
1997	1.54	2.22
1998	1.46	2.14
1999	1.43	2.14
2000	1.48	2.21
2001	1.31	2.28
2002	1.18	2.31
2003	1.19	2.3
2004	1.16	2.27
2005	1.09	2.26
2006	1.13	2.29
2007	1.26	2.3
2008	1.19	2.23
2009	1.15	2.18
2010	1.23	2.13
2011	1.24	2.14
2012	1.3	2.17
2013	1.19	2.18
2014	1.21	2.13
2015	1.24	2.09
2016	1.17	2.06
2017	1.05	2.04
2018	0.98	2.03
2019	0.92	2.02
2020	0.84	2.01
2021	0.81	2
2022	0.78	1.98
2023	0.72	1.97
2024	0.73	1.95
2025	0.75	1.94
2026	0.76	1.93
2027	0.78	1.91
2028	0.79	1.9
2029	0.8	1.89
2030	0.82	1.88
2031	0.83	1.87
2032	0.84	1.86
2033	0.85	1.85
2034	0.86	1.85
2035	0.88	1.84
2036	0.89	1.83
2037	0.9	1.83
2038	0.91	1.82
2039	0.92	1.81
2040	0.93	1.81
2041	0.95	1.8
2042	0.96	1.8
2043	0.96	1.8
2044	0.97	1.79
2045	0.98	1.79
2046	0.99	1.79
2047	1	1.78
2048	1.01	1.78
2049	1.02	1.77
2050	1.03	1.77

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	South Korea	Sri Lanka
1960	41.3%	41%
1961	41.8%	40.9%
1962	42.3%	40.8%
1963	42.7%	40.7%
1964	43.1%	40.6%
1965	43.3%	40.5%
1966	43.5%	40.4%
1967	43.3%	40.3%
1968	43.1%	40.1%
1969	42.7%	39.9%
1970	42.1%	39.7%
1971	41.5%	39.5%
1972	41%	39.2%
1973	40.3%	38.8%
1974	39.5%	38.4%
1975	38.5%	38%
1976	37.5%	37.6%
1977	36.5%	37.2%
1978	35.6%	36.9%
1979	34.8%	36.7%
1980	34%	36.4%
1981	33.3%	36.2%
1982	32.7%	36%
1983	32%	35.8%
1984	31.2%	35.5%
1985	30.2%	35.2%
1986	29.2%	34.6%
1987	28.2%	34%
1988	27.3%	33.5%
1989	26.5%	33%
1990	25.8%	32.5%
1991	25.2%	32.1%
1992	24.7%	31.4%
1993	24.2%	30.6%
1994	23.7%	29.9%
1995	23.1%	29.2%
1996	22.5%	28.6%
1997	22%	28.2%
1998	21.6%	27.8%
1999	21.2%	27.4%
2000	21%	27%
2001	20.8%	26.6%
2002	20.5%	26.3%
2003	20.1%	26.1%
2004	19.7%	26%
2005	19.2%	25.8%
2006	18.7%	25.7%
2007	18.1%	25.7%
2008	17.5%	25.6%
2009	16.9%	25.5%
2010	16.4%	25.4%
2011	15.8%	25.3%
2012	15.2%	25.2%
2013	14.7%	25%
2014	14.2%	24.9%
2015	13.8%	24.7%
2016	13.4%	24.5%
2017	13%	24.2%
2018	12.7%	24%
2019	12.4%	23.7%
2020	12.1%	23.3%
2021	11.8%	23%
2022	11.4%	22.7%
2023	11%	22.4%
2024	10.6%	22%
2025	10.2%	21.7%
2026	9.82%	21.4%
2027	9.42%	21.1%
2028	9.06%	20.8%
2029	8.75%	20.5%
2030	8.43%	20.2%
2031	8.15%	20%
2032	7.94%	19.8%
2033	7.79%	19.6%
2034	7.7%	19.4%
2035	7.66%	19.2%
2036	7.65%	19.1%
2037	7.66%	18.9%
2038	7.68%	18.8%
2039	7.71%	18.7%
2040	7.73%	18.6%
2041	7.75%	18.4%
2042	7.76%	18.3%
2043	7.77%	18.2%
2044	7.78%	18.1%
2045	7.79%	18%
2046	7.8%	17.9%
2047	7.81%	17.7%
2048	7.82%	17.6%
2049	7.82%	17.5%
2050	7.83%	17.3%

Children aged 0-14 make up 10.6% of the population in South Korea and 22% in Sri Lanka in 2024, compared to 25.8% and 32.5% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of South Korea and Sri Lanka compared.

Natural population change in South Korea vs Sri Lanka by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in South Korea and +0.75% in Sri Lanka. 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
	South Korea	Sri Lanka
1960	728,010	247,631
1961	730,173	251,087
1962	712,590	256,719
1963	685,824	262,880
1964	655,501	269,584
1965	641,090	272,422
1966	623,534	275,549
1967	692,169	284,738
1968	684,487	286,642
1969	694,227	286,218
1970	747,987	286,719
1971	789,185	281,200
1972	740,469	282,494
1973	699,115	278,577
1974	673,030	275,521
1975	603,300	282,496
1976	530,558	291,816
1977	578,947	300,038
1978	499,084	317,055
1979	623,068	329,791
1980	583,294	328,155
1981	631,189	328,096
1982	605,626	300,030
1983	514,844	277,768
1984	436,384	263,175
1985	416,219	247,836
1986	395,651	233,782
1987	378,758	226,414
1988	399,297	219,184
1989	403,266	212,401
1990	411,546	224,454
1991	467,594	218,117
1992	494,352	222,230
1993	477,302	226,257
1994	473,200	228,904
1995	468,967	221,957
1996	446,142	215,290
1997	422,773	208,193
1998	393,436	201,059
1999	368,272	206,876
2000	390,167	227,060
2001	312,643	244,377
2002	247,752	252,840
2003	244,251	252,008
2004	225,988	212,527
2005	187,920	248,683
2006	203,441	248,706
2007	248,286	248,287
2008	215,841	232,225
2009	197,231	200,175
2010	213,083	224,325
2011	214,728	224,461
2012	215,859	229,138
2013	166,415	221,021
2014	167,464	211,541
2015	163,248	201,815
2016	122,923	194,232
2017	71,907	187,993
2018	30,951	183,610
2019	10,353	172,243
2020	-31,101	170,968
2021	-56,947	121,858
2022	-124,014	95,378
2023	-77,569	66,111

Maternal mortality chart: South Korea vs Sri Lanka

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in South Korea, compared to 18 deaths in Sri Lanka.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	South Korea	Sri Lanka
1985	38	68
1986	35	66
1987	34	64
1988	31	62
1989	29	61
1990	28	59
1991	28	57
1992	26	54
1993	24	51
1994	23	49
1995	22	48
1996	20	47
1997	19	45
1998	18	43
1999	17	41
2000	15	39
2001	14	37
2002	13	36
2003	13	35
2004	12	37
2005	11	32
2006	10	32
2007	10	31
2008	9	30
2009	9	28
2010	8	26
2011	8	25
2012	8	24
2013	7	23
2014	7	23
2015	6	22
2016	6	22
2017	6	21
2018	5	21
2019	5	20
2020	12	23
2021	5	34
2022	7	22
2023	4	18

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.28% in South Korea and 0.61% in Sri Lanka. 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
	South Korea	Sri Lanka
1960	11.2%	9.41%
1961	10.6%	8.95%
1962	10.1%	8.66%
1963	9.67%	8.48%
1964	9.18%	8.3%
1965	8.68%	8.07%
1966	8.16%	7.81%
1967	7.62%	7.55%
1968	7.1%	7.32%
1969	6.59%	7.14%
1970	6.12%	7.02%
1971	5.71%	6.94%
1972	5.36%	6.86%
1973	5.07%	6.77%
1974	4.82%	6.62%
1975	4.61%	6.41%
1976	4.42%	6.12%
1977	4.23%	5.77%
1978	4.04%	5.38%
1979	3.84%	4.99%
1980	3.63%	4.63%
1981	3.4%	4.29%
1982	3.17%	3.98%
1983	2.93%	3.67%
1984	2.7%	3.35%
1985	2.46%	3.02%
1986	2.25%	2.74%
1987	2.05%	2.54%
1988	1.87%	2.41%
1989	1.71%	2.74%
1990	1.57%	2.33%
1991	1.44%	2.32%
1992	1.33%	2.29%
1993	1.23%	2.22%
1994	1.14%	2.14%
1995	1.05%	2.05%
1996	0.98%	1.95%
1997	0.91%	1.86%
1998	0.85%	1.76%
1999	0.8%	1.69%
2000	0.75%	1.63%
2001	0.71%	1.58%
2002	0.68%	1.55%
2003	0.64%	1.52%
2004	0.6%	2.88%
2005	0.56%	1.4%
2006	0.52%	1.33%
2007	0.48%	1.26%
2008	0.45%	1.2%
2009	0.43%	2.08%
2010	0.41%	1.12%
2011	0.4%	1.08%
2012	0.38%	1.03%
2013	0.37%	0.98%
2014	0.36%	0.92%
2015	0.35%	0.87%
2016	0.34%	0.83%
2017	0.33%	0.79%
2018	0.32%	0.76%
2019	0.31%	0.72%
2020	0.3%	0.69%
2021	0.29%	0.66%
2022	0.28%	0.64%
2023	0.28%	0.61%