Fertility & birth rates in South Korea and Zambia

Fertility rate in South Korea vs Zambia 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 4.1 in Zambia in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check South Korea vs Zambia 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	Zambia
1960	5.99	6.95
1961	5.8	6.98
1962	5.56	7.01
1963	5.33	7.06
1964	5.07	7.09
1965	4.89	7.12
1966	4.78	7.14
1967	4.62	7.15
1968	4.51	7.18
1969	4.45	7.18
1970	4.53	7.22
1971	4.54	7.26
1972	4.12	7.3
1973	4.07	7.34
1974	3.77	7.36
1975	3.43	7.42
1976	3	7.39
1977	2.99	7.35
1978	2.64	7.29
1979	2.9	7.22
1980	2.82	7.14
1981	2.57	7.07
1982	2.39	7.04
1983	2.06	7.01
1984	1.74	6.97
1985	1.66	6.93
1986	1.58	6.87
1987	1.53	6.8
1988	1.55	6.7
1989	1.56	6.64
1990	1.57	6.57
1991	1.71	6.46
1992	1.76	6.35
1993	1.65	6.3
1994	1.66	6.26
1995	1.63	6.23
1996	1.57	6.18
1997	1.54	6.12
1998	1.46	6.07
1999	1.43	6
2000	1.48	5.92
2001	1.31	5.85
2002	1.18	5.77
2003	1.19	5.71
2004	1.16	5.7
2005	1.09	5.7
2006	1.13	5.68
2007	1.26	5.61
2008	1.19	5.53
2009	1.15	5.45
2010	1.23	5.36
2011	1.24	5.26
2012	1.3	5.14
2013	1.19	5.01
2014	1.21	4.89
2015	1.24	4.78
2016	1.17	4.67
2017	1.05	4.57
2018	0.98	4.49
2019	0.92	4.42
2020	0.84	4.32
2021	0.81	4.25
2022	0.78	4.18
2023	0.72	4.1
2024	0.73	4.04
2025	0.75	3.97
2026	0.76	3.91
2027	0.78	3.85
2028	0.79	3.77
2029	0.8	3.72
2030	0.82	3.67
2031	0.83	3.61
2032	0.84	3.56
2033	0.85	3.5
2034	0.86	3.45
2035	0.88	3.4
2036	0.89	3.35
2037	0.9	3.3
2038	0.91	3.25
2039	0.92	3.19
2040	0.93	3.15
2041	0.95	3.11
2042	0.96	3.07
2043	0.96	3.03
2044	0.97	3
2045	0.98	2.96
2046	0.99	2.93
2047	1	2.9
2048	1.01	2.87
2049	1.02	2.84
2050	1.03	2.81

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	South Korea	Zambia
1960	41.3%	46%
1961	41.8%	46.2%
1962	42.3%	46.3%
1963	42.7%	46.5%
1964	43.1%	46.7%
1965	43.3%	46.9%
1966	43.5%	46.9%
1967	43.3%	47%
1968	43.1%	47.1%
1969	42.7%	47.2%
1970	42.1%	47.4%
1971	41.5%	47.7%
1972	41%	48%
1973	40.3%	48.3%
1974	39.5%	48.6%
1975	38.5%	48.8%
1976	37.5%	49.1%
1977	36.5%	49.2%
1978	35.6%	49.4%
1979	34.8%	49.5%
1980	34%	49.5%
1981	33.3%	49.4%
1982	32.7%	49.3%
1983	32%	49.1%
1984	31.2%	49%
1985	30.2%	48.9%
1986	29.2%	48.8%
1987	28.2%	48.7%
1988	27.3%	48.6%
1989	26.5%	48.5%
1990	25.8%	48.4%
1991	25.2%	48.3%
1992	24.7%	48.2%
1993	24.2%	48.2%
1994	23.7%	48.2%
1995	23.1%	48.2%
1996	22.5%	48.2%
1997	22%	48.2%
1998	21.6%	48.2%
1999	21.2%	48.1%
2000	21%	48%
2001	20.8%	47.8%
2002	20.5%	47.6%
2003	20.1%	47.4%
2004	19.7%	47.3%
2005	19.2%	47.1%
2006	18.7%	47%
2007	18.1%	46.8%
2008	17.5%	46.6%
2009	16.9%	46.4%
2010	16.4%	46.3%
2011	15.8%	46.1%
2012	15.2%	45.9%
2013	14.7%	45.7%
2014	14.2%	45.5%
2015	13.8%	45.2%
2016	13.4%	44.9%
2017	13%	44.5%
2018	12.7%	44.1%
2019	12.4%	43.8%
2020	12.1%	43.3%
2021	11.8%	42.9%
2022	11.4%	42.4%
2023	11%	42%
2024	10.6%	41.5%
2025	10.2%	41%
2026	9.82%	40.5%
2027	9.42%	40%
2028	9.06%	39.6%
2029	8.75%	39.2%
2030	8.43%	38.8%
2031	8.15%	38.5%
2032	7.94%	38.1%
2033	7.79%	37.8%
2034	7.7%	37.5%
2035	7.66%	37.1%
2036	7.65%	36.8%
2037	7.66%	36.5%
2038	7.68%	36.1%
2039	7.71%	35.8%
2040	7.73%	35.4%
2041	7.75%	35.1%
2042	7.76%	34.7%
2043	7.77%	34.4%
2044	7.78%	34%
2045	7.79%	33.7%
2046	7.8%	33.3%
2047	7.81%	33%
2048	7.82%	32.6%
2049	7.82%	32.3%
2050	7.83%	32%

Children aged 0-14 make up 10.6% of the population in South Korea and 41.5% in Zambia in 2024, compared to 25.8% and 48.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of South Korea and Zambia compared.

Natural population change in South Korea vs Zambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.06% in South Korea and +2.87% in Zambia. 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	Zambia
1960	728,010	102,335
1961	730,173	106,318
1962	712,590	110,173
1963	685,824	114,555
1964	655,501	117,197
1965	641,090	122,814
1966	623,534	127,164
1967	692,169	131,938
1968	684,487	137,315
1969	694,227	142,660
1970	747,987	149,380
1971	789,185	155,249
1972	740,469	161,648
1973	699,115	168,258
1974	673,030	174,484
1975	603,300	182,258
1976	530,558	186,762
1977	578,947	191,557
1978	499,084	194,933
1979	623,068	197,578
1980	583,294	198,817
1981	631,189	202,822
1982	605,626	207,621
1983	514,844	212,712
1984	436,384	216,695
1985	416,219	221,351
1986	395,651	224,768
1987	378,758	227,813
1988	399,297	230,118
1989	403,266	233,429
1990	411,546	235,835
1991	467,594	237,957
1992	494,352	239,953
1993	477,302	245,917
1994	473,200	252,023
1995	468,967	257,897
1996	446,142	262,468
1997	422,773	268,198
1998	393,436	275,568
1999	368,272	283,297
2000	390,167	293,186
2001	312,643	302,682
2002	247,752	316,041
2003	244,251	331,189
2004	225,988	349,352
2005	187,920	368,756
2006	203,441	387,891
2007	248,286	403,729
2008	215,841	419,560
2009	197,231	434,458
2010	213,083	448,337
2011	214,728	459,743
2012	215,859	469,406
2013	166,415	476,846
2014	167,464	483,663
2015	163,248	491,021
2016	122,923	497,521
2017	71,907	504,630
2018	30,951	515,644
2019	10,353	528,089
2020	-31,101	536,484
2021	-56,947	535,629
2022	-124,014	563,456
2023	-77,569	577,660

Maternal mortality chart: South Korea vs Zambia

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 85 deaths in Zambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	South Korea	Zambia
1985	38	596
1986	35	619
1987	34	630
1988	31	635
1989	29	635
1990	28	625
1991	28	611
1992	26	581
1993	24	532
1994	23	507
1995	22	466
1996	20	433
1997	19	403
1998	18	392
1999	17	378
2000	15	340
2001	14	306
2002	13	274
2003	13	250
2004	12	260
2005	11	264
2006	10	262
2007	10	324
2008	9	394
2009	9	406
2010	8	332
2011	8	291
2012	8	256
2013	7	213
2014	7	174
2015	6	154
2016	6	158
2017	6	141
2018	5	117
2019	5	103
2020	12	99
2021	5	140
2022	7	89
2023	4	85

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.28% in South Korea and 4.47% in Zambia. 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	Zambia
1960	11.2%	20.5%
1961	10.6%	20.1%
1962	10.1%	19.8%
1963	9.67%	19.5%
1964	9.18%	19.2%
1965	8.68%	19%
1966	8.16%	18.9%
1967	7.62%	18.7%
1968	7.1%	18.5%
1969	6.59%	18.3%
1970	6.12%	17.9%
1971	5.71%	17.4%
1972	5.36%	16.9%
1973	5.07%	16.3%
1974	4.82%	15.9%
1975	4.61%	15.5%
1976	4.42%	15.4%
1977	4.23%	15.3%
1978	4.04%	15.3%
1979	3.84%	15.4%
1980	3.63%	15.5%
1981	3.4%	15.6%
1982	3.17%	15.7%
1983	2.93%	15.9%
1984	2.7%	16.2%
1985	2.46%	16.6%
1986	2.25%	17%
1987	2.05%	17.3%
1988	1.87%	17.7%
1989	1.71%	17.9%
1990	1.57%	18.1%
1991	1.44%	18.1%
1992	1.33%	18.1%
1993	1.23%	17.9%
1994	1.14%	17.7%
1995	1.05%	17.3%
1996	0.98%	17%
1997	0.91%	16.7%
1998	0.85%	16.3%
1999	0.8%	15.9%
2000	0.75%	15.3%
2001	0.71%	14.4%
2002	0.68%	13.4%
2003	0.64%	12.4%
2004	0.6%	11.4%
2005	0.56%	10.5%
2006	0.52%	9.71%
2007	0.48%	9.14%
2008	0.45%	8.62%
2009	0.43%	8%
2010	0.41%	7.57%
2011	0.4%	7.31%
2012	0.38%	7.04%
2013	0.37%	6.72%
2014	0.36%	6.38%
2015	0.35%	6.15%
2016	0.34%	5.9%
2017	0.33%	5.61%
2018	0.32%	5.52%
2019	0.31%	5.41%
2020	0.3%	5.24%
2021	0.29%	4.92%
2022	0.28%	4.67%
2023	0.28%	4.47%