Fertility & birth rates in South Korea and United Kingdom

Fertility rate in South Korea vs United Kingdom 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 1.56 in the United Kingdom in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check South Korea vs the United Kingdom 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	United Kingdom
1960	5.99	2.69
1961	5.8	2.78
1962	5.56	2.86
1963	5.33	2.88
1964	5.07	2.93
1965	4.89	2.86
1966	4.78	2.78
1967	4.62	2.68
1968	4.51	2.6
1969	4.45	2.51
1970	4.53	2.44
1971	4.54	2.41
1972	4.12	2.2
1973	4.07	2.04
1974	3.77	1.92
1975	3.43	1.81
1976	3	1.74
1977	2.99	1.69
1978	2.64	1.75
1979	2.9	1.86
1980	2.82	1.9
1981	2.57	1.82
1982	2.39	1.78
1983	2.06	1.77
1984	1.74	1.77
1985	1.66	1.79
1986	1.58	1.78
1987	1.53	1.81
1988	1.55	1.82
1989	1.56	1.79
1990	1.57	1.83
1991	1.71	1.82
1992	1.76	1.79
1993	1.65	1.76
1994	1.66	1.74
1995	1.63	1.71
1996	1.57	1.73
1997	1.54	1.72
1998	1.46	1.71
1999	1.43	1.68
2000	1.48	1.64
2001	1.31	1.63
2002	1.18	1.63
2003	1.19	1.7
2004	1.16	1.75
2005	1.09	1.76
2006	1.13	1.82
2007	1.26	1.86
2008	1.19	1.91
2009	1.15	1.89
2010	1.23	1.92
2011	1.24	1.91
2012	1.3	1.92
2013	1.19	1.83
2014	1.21	1.81
2015	1.24	1.8
2016	1.17	1.79
2017	1.05	1.74
2018	0.98	1.68
2019	0.92	1.63
2020	0.84	1.57
2021	0.81	1.58
2022	0.78	1.56
2023	0.72	1.56
2024	0.73	1.55
2025	0.75	1.54
2026	0.76	1.53
2027	0.78	1.53
2028	0.79	1.53
2029	0.8	1.52
2030	0.82	1.52
2031	0.83	1.52
2032	0.84	1.53
2033	0.85	1.53
2034	0.86	1.53
2035	0.88	1.53
2036	0.89	1.53
2037	0.9	1.53
2038	0.91	1.53
2039	0.92	1.53
2040	0.93	1.53
2041	0.95	1.54
2042	0.96	1.54
2043	0.96	1.54
2044	0.97	1.54
2045	0.98	1.54
2046	0.99	1.54
2047	1	1.54
2048	1.01	1.54
2049	1.02	1.55
2050	1.03	1.55

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	South Korea	United Kingdom
1960	41.3%	23.3%
1961	41.8%	23.3%
1962	42.3%	23.2%
1963	42.7%	23.2%
1964	43.1%	23.3%
1965	43.3%	23.4%
1966	43.5%	23.5%
1967	43.3%	23.7%
1968	43.1%	23.9%
1969	42.7%	24%
1970	42.1%	24.1%
1971	41.5%	24.1%
1972	41%	24%
1973	40.3%	23.9%
1974	39.5%	23.6%
1975	38.5%	23.3%
1976	37.5%	22.9%
1977	36.5%	22.4%
1978	35.6%	21.9%
1979	34.8%	21.4%
1980	34%	21%
1981	33.3%	20.6%
1982	32.7%	20.2%
1983	32%	19.8%
1984	31.2%	19.5%
1985	30.2%	19.3%
1986	29.2%	19.1%
1987	28.2%	18.9%
1988	27.3%	18.9%
1989	26.5%	19.1%
1990	25.8%	19.1%
1991	25.2%	19.3%
1992	24.7%	19.4%
1993	24.2%	19.5%
1994	23.7%	19.6%
1995	23.1%	19.5%
1996	22.5%	19.4%
1997	22%	19.3%
1998	21.6%	19.3%
1999	21.2%	19.2%
2000	21%	18.9%
2001	20.8%	18.7%
2002	20.5%	18.5%
2003	20.1%	18.4%
2004	19.7%	18.3%
2005	19.2%	18.2%
2006	18.7%	18%
2007	18.1%	17.9%
2008	17.5%	17.8%
2009	16.9%	17.8%
2010	16.4%	17.8%
2011	15.8%	17.7%
2012	15.2%	17.8%
2013	14.7%	17.8%
2014	14.2%	17.8%
2015	13.8%	17.9%
2016	13.4%	18%
2017	13%	18%
2018	12.7%	18.1%
2019	12.4%	18%
2020	12.1%	18%
2021	11.8%	17.8%
2022	11.4%	17.6%
2023	11%	17.4%
2024	10.6%	17.2%
2025	10.2%	17%
2026	9.82%	16.7%
2027	9.42%	16.5%
2028	9.06%	16.2%
2029	8.75%	16%
2030	8.43%	15.7%
2031	8.15%	15.5%
2032	7.94%	15.3%
2033	7.79%	15.2%
2034	7.7%	15.1%
2035	7.66%	15%
2036	7.65%	14.9%
2037	7.66%	14.9%
2038	7.68%	14.8%
2039	7.71%	14.8%
2040	7.73%	14.8%
2041	7.75%	14.8%
2042	7.76%	14.8%
2043	7.77%	14.9%
2044	7.78%	14.9%
2045	7.79%	14.9%
2046	7.8%	15%
2047	7.81%	15%
2048	7.82%	15%
2049	7.82%	15%
2050	7.83%	15.1%

Children aged 0-14 make up 10.6% of the population in South Korea and 17.2% in the United Kingdom in 2024, compared to 25.8% and 19.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of South Korea and the United Kingdom compared.

Natural population change in South Korea vs United Kingdom by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in South Korea and +0.16% in the United Kingdom. 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	United Kingdom
1960	728,010	314,400
1961	730,173	311,519
1962	712,590	340,800
1963	685,824	337,995
1964	655,501	405,000
1965	641,090	364,132
1966	623,534	333,356
1967	692,169	346,145
1968	684,487	292,622
1969	694,227	260,577
1970	747,987	244,918
1971	789,185	257,123
1972	740,469	162,650
1973	699,115	112,389
1974	673,030	67,476
1975	603,300	33,735
1976	530,558	-5,621
1977	578,947	0
1978	499,084	16,859
1979	623,068	61,872
1980	583,294	95,734
1981	631,189	73,234
1982	605,626	56,314
1983	514,844	61,966
1984	436,384	84,633
1985	416,219	79,170
1986	395,651	90,690
1987	378,758	136,325
1988	399,297	136,628
1989	403,266	119,861
1990	411,546	154,569
1991	467,594	143,562
1992	494,352	149,709
1993	477,302	103,893
1994	473,200	127,304
1995	468,967	87,028
1996	446,142	98,884
1997	422,773	99,138
1998	393,436	87,730
1999	368,272	64,551
2000	390,167	70,671
2001	312,643	65,032
2002	247,752	65,308
2003	244,251	89,471
2004	225,988	131,974
2005	187,920	144,963
2006	203,441	176,455
2007	248,286	196,232
2008	215,841	216,325
2009	197,231	230,422
2010	213,083	251,066
2011	214,728	259,361
2012	215,859	248,473
2013	166,415	198,830
2014	167,464	206,784
2015	163,248	175,738
2016	122,923	177,139
2017	71,907	145,125
2018	30,951	119,321
2019	10,353	108,342
2020	-31,101	-4,272
2021	-56,947	30,612
2022	-124,014	39,751
2023	-77,569	34,589

Maternal mortality chart: South Korea vs United Kingdom

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 8 deaths in the United Kingdom.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	South Korea	United Kingdom
1985	38	2
1986	35	2
1987	34	3
1988	31	4
1989	29	5
1990	28	6
1991	28	7
1992	26	7
1993	24	8
1994	23	9
1995	22	9
1996	20	8
1997	19	9
1998	18	10
1999	17	11
2000	15	12
2001	14	13
2002	13	13
2003	13	14
2004	12	13
2005	11	12
2006	10	12
2007	10	11
2008	9	11
2009	9	11
2010	8	10
2011	8	10
2012	8	9
2013	7	9
2014	7	9
2015	6	9
2016	6	9
2017	6	9
2018	5	9
2019	5	9
2020	12	14
2021	5	13
2022	7	15
2023	4	8

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.28% in South Korea and 0.45% in the United Kingdom. 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	United Kingdom
1960	11.2%	2.66%
1961	10.6%	2.61%
1962	10.1%	2.56%
1963	9.67%	2.49%
1964	9.18%	2.42%
1965	8.68%	2.34%
1966	8.16%	2.28%
1967	7.62%	2.22%
1968	7.1%	2.18%
1969	6.59%	2.14%
1970	6.12%	2.1%
1971	5.71%	2.06%
1972	5.36%	2%
1973	5.07%	1.94%
1974	4.82%	1.87%
1975	4.61%	1.8%
1976	4.42%	1.72%
1977	4.23%	1.64%
1978	4.04%	1.57%
1979	3.84%	1.49%
1980	3.63%	1.41%
1981	3.4%	1.34%
1982	3.17%	1.27%
1983	2.93%	1.22%
1984	2.7%	1.17%
1985	2.46%	1.14%
1986	2.25%	1.11%
1987	2.05%	1.08%
1988	1.87%	1.04%
1989	1.71%	0.99%
1990	1.57%	0.93%
1991	1.44%	0.87%
1992	1.33%	0.82%
1993	1.23%	0.77%
1994	1.14%	0.74%
1995	1.05%	0.72%
1996	0.98%	0.7%
1997	0.91%	0.69%
1998	0.85%	0.68%
1999	0.8%	0.67%
2000	0.75%	0.65%
2001	0.71%	0.64%
2002	0.68%	0.63%
2003	0.64%	0.63%
2004	0.6%	0.61%
2005	0.56%	0.6%
2006	0.52%	0.59%
2007	0.48%	0.58%
2008	0.45%	0.56%
2009	0.43%	0.54%
2010	0.41%	0.52%
2011	0.4%	0.5%
2012	0.38%	0.48%
2013	0.37%	0.46%
2014	0.36%	0.45%
2015	0.35%	0.45%
2016	0.34%	0.44%
2017	0.33%	0.44%
2018	0.32%	0.44%
2019	0.31%	0.44%
2020	0.3%	0.44%
2021	0.29%	0.44%
2022	0.28%	0.45%
2023	0.28%	0.45%