Fertility & birth rates in South Korea and Vanuatu

Fertility rate in South Korea vs Vanuatu 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 3.6 in Vanuatu in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check South Korea vs Vanuatu 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	Vanuatu
1960	5.99	6.78
1961	5.8	6.73
1962	5.56	6.67
1963	5.33	6.62
1964	5.07	6.57
1965	4.89	6.52
1966	4.78	6.51
1967	4.62	6.51
1968	4.51	6.46
1969	4.45	6.41
1970	4.53	6.35
1971	4.54	6.29
1972	4.12	6.23
1973	4.07	6.15
1974	3.77	6.06
1975	3.43	5.98
1976	3	5.89
1977	2.99	5.81
1978	2.64	5.77
1979	2.9	5.73
1980	2.82	5.69
1981	2.57	5.65
1982	2.39	5.6
1983	2.06	5.55
1984	1.74	5.49
1985	1.66	5.43
1986	1.58	5.38
1987	1.53	5.33
1988	1.55	5.27
1989	1.56	5.21
1990	1.57	5.17
1991	1.71	5.13
1992	1.76	5.09
1993	1.65	5.02
1994	1.66	4.94
1995	1.63	4.85
1996	1.57	4.75
1997	1.54	4.66
1998	1.46	4.6
1999	1.43	4.56
2000	1.48	4.54
2001	1.31	4.5
2002	1.18	4.38
2003	1.19	4.29
2004	1.16	4.21
2005	1.09	4.13
2006	1.13	4.1
2007	1.26	4.12
2008	1.19	4.16
2009	1.15	4.16
2010	1.23	4.13
2011	1.24	4.09
2012	1.3	4.06
2013	1.19	4.04
2014	1.21	4
2015	1.24	3.95
2016	1.17	3.92
2017	1.05	3.88
2018	0.98	3.83
2019	0.92	3.79
2020	0.84	3.74
2021	0.81	3.7
2022	0.78	3.65
2023	0.72	3.6
2024	0.73	3.57
2025	0.75	3.53
2026	0.76	3.5
2027	0.78	3.46
2028	0.79	3.42
2029	0.8	3.39
2030	0.82	3.35
2031	0.83	3.32
2032	0.84	3.28
2033	0.85	3.25
2034	0.86	3.21
2035	0.88	3.18
2036	0.89	3.15
2037	0.9	3.13
2038	0.91	3.1
2039	0.92	3.08
2040	0.93	3.05
2041	0.95	3.03
2042	0.96	3
2043	0.96	2.97
2044	0.97	2.94
2045	0.98	2.92
2046	0.99	2.9
2047	1	2.88
2048	1.01	2.85
2049	1.02	2.83
2050	1.03	2.8

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	South Korea	Vanuatu
1960	41.3%	44.6%
1961	41.8%	44.8%
1962	42.3%	45.1%
1963	42.7%	45.2%
1964	43.1%	45.4%
1965	43.3%	45.5%
1966	43.5%	45.7%
1967	43.3%	45.8%
1968	43.1%	45.8%
1969	42.7%	45.8%
1970	42.1%	45.7%
1971	41.5%	45.7%
1972	41%	45.6%
1973	40.3%	45.5%
1974	39.5%	45.5%
1975	38.5%	45.4%
1976	37.5%	45.2%
1977	36.5%	45.1%
1978	35.6%	45%
1979	34.8%	44.5%
1980	34%	44%
1981	33.3%	43.9%
1982	32.7%	44%
1983	32%	44%
1984	31.2%	44.1%
1985	30.2%	44.2%
1986	29.2%	44.2%
1987	28.2%	44.1%
1988	27.3%	44.1%
1989	26.5%	44%
1990	25.8%	43.9%
1991	25.2%	43.9%
1992	24.7%	44.1%
1993	24.2%	44.8%
1994	23.7%	45.2%
1995	23.1%	45%
1996	22.5%	44.8%
1997	22%	44.4%
1998	21.6%	44%
1999	21.2%	43.5%
2000	21%	42.9%
2001	20.8%	42.4%
2002	20.5%	41.8%
2003	20.1%	41.3%
2004	19.7%	40.7%
2005	19.2%	40.2%
2006	18.7%	39.6%
2007	18.1%	39.2%
2008	17.5%	38.8%
2009	16.9%	38.5%
2010	16.4%	38.2%
2011	15.8%	38.1%
2012	15.2%	38.2%
2013	14.7%	38.2%
2014	14.2%	38.4%
2015	13.8%	38.5%
2016	13.4%	38.7%
2017	13%	38.8%
2018	12.7%	38.9%
2019	12.4%	39%
2020	12.1%	39%
2021	11.8%	39%
2022	11.4%	38.8%
2023	11%	38.6%
2024	10.6%	38.3%
2025	10.2%	38%
2026	9.82%	37.6%
2027	9.42%	37.1%
2028	9.06%	36.7%
2029	8.75%	36.2%
2030	8.43%	35.8%
2031	8.15%	35.3%
2032	7.94%	34.9%
2033	7.79%	34.5%
2034	7.7%	34.1%
2035	7.66%	33.7%
2036	7.65%	33.4%
2037	7.66%	33.2%
2038	7.68%	32.9%
2039	7.71%	32.7%
2040	7.73%	32.5%
2041	7.75%	32.3%
2042	7.76%	32.2%
2043	7.77%	32%
2044	7.78%	31.8%
2045	7.79%	31.6%
2046	7.8%	31.5%
2047	7.81%	31.3%
2048	7.82%	31.1%
2049	7.82%	30.9%
2050	7.83%	30.6%

Children aged 0-14 make up 10.6% of the population in South Korea and 38.3% in Vanuatu in 2024, compared to 25.8% and 43.9% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of South Korea and Vanuatu compared.

Natural population change in South Korea vs Vanuatu by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in South Korea and +2.53% in Vanuatu. 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	Vanuatu
1960	728,010	1,796
1961	730,173	1,872
1962	712,590	1,947
1963	685,824	2,025
1964	655,501	2,098
1965	641,090	2,180
1966	623,534	2,278
1967	692,169	2,384
1968	684,487	2,470
1969	694,227	2,529
1970	747,987	2,597
1971	789,185	2,685
1972	740,469	2,775
1973	699,115	2,876
1974	673,030	2,968
1975	603,300	3,074
1976	530,558	3,174
1977	578,947	3,285
1978	499,084	3,428
1979	623,068	3,590
1980	583,294	3,383
1981	631,189	3,592
1982	605,626	3,778
1983	514,844	3,944
1984	436,384	4,088
1985	416,219	4,219
1986	395,651	4,360
1987	378,758	4,427
1988	399,297	4,577
1989	403,266	4,656
1990	411,546	4,762
1991	467,594	4,859
1992	494,352	4,941
1993	477,302	4,973
1994	473,200	4,973
1995	468,967	4,945
1996	446,142	4,897
1997	422,773	4,854
1998	393,436	4,866
1999	368,272	4,871
2000	390,167	5,026
2001	312,643	5,144
2002	247,752	5,181
2003	244,251	5,258
2004	225,988	5,353
2005	187,920	5,454
2006	203,441	5,606
2007	248,286	5,842
2008	215,841	6,138
2009	197,231	6,362
2010	213,083	6,548
2011	214,728	6,715
2012	215,859	6,877
2013	166,415	7,036
2014	167,464	7,143
2015	163,248	7,220
2016	122,923	7,315
2017	71,907	7,371
2018	30,951	7,379
2019	10,353	7,364
2020	-31,101	7,233
2021	-56,947	7,199
2022	-124,014	7,358
2023	-77,569	7,359

Maternal mortality chart: South Korea vs Vanuatu

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 100 deaths in Vanuatu.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	South Korea	Vanuatu
1985	38	211
1986	35	194
1987	34	200
1988	31	172
1989	29	162
1990	28	151
1991	28	140
1992	26	140
1993	24	133
1994	23	131
1995	22	131
1996	20	129
1997	19	131
1998	18	134
1999	17	146
2000	15	133
2001	14	132
2002	13	128
2003	13	131
2004	12	131
2005	11	127
2006	10	123
2007	10	120
2008	9	117
2009	9	114
2010	8	114
2011	8	112
2012	8	109
2013	7	110
2014	7	110
2015	6	109
2016	6	107
2017	6	107
2018	5	108
2019	5	105
2020	12	107
2021	5	124
2022	7	105
2023	4	100

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.28% in South Korea and 1.68% in Vanuatu. 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	Vanuatu
1960	11.2%	15.2%
1961	10.6%	14.7%
1962	10.1%	14.3%
1963	9.67%	13.8%
1964	9.18%	13.4%
1965	8.68%	12.9%
1966	8.16%	12.4%
1967	7.62%	12%
1968	7.1%	11.5%
1969	6.59%	11%
1970	6.12%	10.6%
1971	5.71%	10.2%
1972	5.36%	9.73%
1973	5.07%	9.34%
1974	4.82%	8.95%
1975	4.61%	8.58%
1976	4.42%	8.21%
1977	4.23%	7.84%
1978	4.04%	7.45%
1979	3.84%	7.07%
1980	3.63%	6.67%
1981	3.4%	6.27%
1982	3.17%	5.87%
1983	2.93%	5.48%
1984	2.7%	5.12%
1985	2.46%	4.78%
1986	2.25%	4.47%
1987	2.05%	4.2%
1988	1.87%	3.96%
1989	1.71%	3.76%
1990	1.57%	3.58%
1991	1.44%	3.43%
1992	1.33%	3.29%
1993	1.23%	3.18%
1994	1.14%	3.08%
1995	1.05%	3%
1996	0.98%	2.92%
1997	0.91%	2.86%
1998	0.85%	2.79%
1999	0.8%	2.74%
2000	0.75%	2.68%
2001	0.71%	2.63%
2002	0.68%	2.58%
2003	0.64%	2.54%
2004	0.6%	2.5%
2005	0.56%	2.45%
2006	0.52%	2.4%
2007	0.48%	2.34%
2008	0.45%	2.27%
2009	0.43%	2.2%
2010	0.41%	2.12%
2011	0.4%	2.05%
2012	0.38%	1.99%
2013	0.37%	1.94%
2014	0.36%	1.9%
2015	0.35%	1.87%
2016	0.34%	1.84%
2017	0.33%	1.82%
2018	0.32%	1.8%
2019	0.31%	1.78%
2020	0.3%	1.77%
2021	0.29%	1.74%
2022	0.28%	1.71%
2023	0.28%	1.68%