Fertility & birth rates in South Sudan and Zambia

Fertility rate in South Sudan vs Zambia chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in South Sudan was 3.86 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 Sudan 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 Sudan	Zambia
1960	7.16	6.95
1961	7.18	6.98
1962	7.2	7.01
1963	7.2	7.06
1964	7.22	7.09
1965	7.22	7.12
1966	7.25	7.14
1967	7.26	7.15
1968	7.26	7.18
1969	7.28	7.18
1970	7.29	7.22
1971	7.3	7.26
1972	7.31	7.3
1973	7.31	7.34
1974	7.31	7.36
1975	7.33	7.42
1976	7.33	7.39
1977	7.33	7.35
1978	7.33	7.29
1979	7.32	7.22
1980	7.33	7.14
1981	7.33	7.07
1982	7.34	7.04
1983	7.34	7.01
1984	7.35	6.97
1985	7.36	6.93
1986	7.38	6.87
1987	7.39	6.8
1988	7.38	6.7
1989	7.37	6.64
1990	7.38	6.57
1991	7.38	6.46
1992	7.37	6.35
1993	7.36	6.3
1994	7.35	6.26
1995	7.34	6.23
1996	7.32	6.18
1997	7.2	6.12
1998	7.08	6.07
1999	6.94	6
2000	6.8	5.92
2001	6.65	5.85
2002	6.52	5.77
2003	6.35	5.71
2004	6.19	5.7
2005	6.02	5.7
2006	5.85	5.68
2007	5.7	5.61
2008	5.57	5.53
2009	5.45	5.45
2010	5.32	5.36
2011	5.19	5.26
2012	5.06	5.14
2013	4.94	5.01
2014	4.82	4.89
2015	4.7	4.78
2016	4.58	4.67
2017	4.48	4.57
2018	4.37	4.49
2019	4.26	4.42
2020	4.16	4.32
2021	4.05	4.25
2022	3.96	4.18
2023	3.86	4.1
2024	3.79	4.04
2025	3.71	3.97
2026	3.63	3.91
2027	3.56	3.85
2028	3.49	3.77
2029	3.43	3.72
2030	3.37	3.67
2031	3.31	3.61
2032	3.26	3.56
2033	3.2	3.5
2034	3.15	3.45
2035	3.1	3.4
2036	3.06	3.35
2037	3.01	3.3
2038	2.96	3.25
2039	2.92	3.19
2040	2.88	3.15
2041	2.84	3.11
2042	2.8	3.07
2043	2.76	3.03
2044	2.73	3
2045	2.69	2.96
2046	2.66	2.93
2047	2.63	2.9
2048	2.6	2.87
2049	2.58	2.84
2050	2.55	2.81

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	South Sudan	Zambia
1960	42.5%	46%
1961	42.6%	46.2%
1962	42.6%	46.3%
1963	42.8%	46.5%
1964	43%	46.7%
1965	43.3%	46.9%
1966	43.5%	46.9%
1967	43.8%	47%
1968	44%	47.1%
1969	44.3%	47.2%
1970	44.5%	47.4%
1971	44.7%	47.7%
1972	44.8%	48%
1973	45%	48.3%
1974	45.1%	48.6%
1975	45.2%	48.8%
1976	45.3%	49.1%
1977	45.4%	49.2%
1978	45.5%	49.4%
1979	45.7%	49.5%
1980	45.8%	49.5%
1981	46%	49.4%
1982	46.2%	49.3%
1983	46.3%	49.1%
1984	46.5%	49%
1985	46.6%	48.9%
1986	46.7%	48.8%
1987	46.9%	48.7%
1988	46.2%	48.6%
1989	45.4%	48.5%
1990	45.4%	48.4%
1991	45.5%	48.3%
1992	45.6%	48.2%
1993	45.7%	48.2%
1994	45.8%	48.2%
1995	45.8%	48.2%
1996	46%	48.2%
1997	46%	48.2%
1998	45.8%	48.2%
1999	45.6%	48.1%
2000	45.5%	48%
2001	45.5%	47.8%
2002	45.7%	47.6%
2003	45.9%	47.4%
2004	45.8%	47.3%
2005	45.3%	47.1%
2006	44.8%	47%
2007	44.3%	46.8%
2008	43.8%	46.6%
2009	43.4%	46.4%
2010	42.8%	46.3%
2011	42.2%	46.1%
2012	41.9%	45.9%
2013	41.9%	45.7%
2014	42.5%	45.5%
2015	43.1%	45.2%
2016	43.7%	44.9%
2017	45%	44.5%
2018	44.9%	44.1%
2019	43.6%	43.8%
2020	42.4%	43.3%
2021	41.6%	42.9%
2022	40.9%	42.4%
2023	39.9%	42%
2024	38.9%	41.5%
2025	38%	41%
2026	37.1%	40.5%
2027	36.2%	40%
2028	35.5%	39.6%
2029	35%	39.2%
2030	34.7%	38.8%
2031	34.5%	38.5%
2032	34.4%	38.1%
2033	34.3%	37.8%
2034	34.3%	37.5%
2035	34.2%	37.1%
2036	34.1%	36.8%
2037	34%	36.5%
2038	33.8%	36.1%
2039	33.7%	35.8%
2040	33.4%	35.4%
2041	33.2%	35.1%
2042	32.9%	34.7%
2043	32.5%	34.4%
2044	32.2%	34%
2045	31.8%	33.7%
2046	31.4%	33.3%
2047	31%	33%
2048	30.5%	32.6%
2049	30.1%	32.3%
2050	29.7%	32%

Children aged 0-14 make up 38.9% of the population in South Sudan and 41.5% in Zambia in 2024, compared to 45.4% and 48.4% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of South Sudan and Zambia compared.

Natural population change in South Sudan vs Zambia by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +1.65% in South Sudan 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 Sudan	Zambia
1960	42,945	102,335
1961	45,186	106,318
1962	47,406	110,173
1963	46,333	114,555
1964	64,786	117,197
1965	51,682	122,814
1966	38,523	127,164
1967	41,357	131,938
1968	44,213	137,315
1969	42,015	142,660
1970	44,776	149,380
1971	72,308	155,249
1972	74,803	161,648
1973	94,765	168,258
1974	97,181	174,484
1975	99,882	182,258
1976	102,346	186,762
1977	104,886	191,557
1978	107,352	194,933
1979	109,540	197,578
1980	112,307	198,817
1981	115,163	202,822
1982	118,641	207,621
1983	104,107	212,712
1984	90,970	216,695
1985	95,342	221,351
1986	99,502	224,768
1987	5,756	227,813
1988	-125,447	230,118
1989	83,735	233,429
1990	82,900	235,835
1991	87,873	237,957
1992	28,874	239,953
1993	32,779	245,917
1994	165,407	252,023
1995	110,417	257,897
1996	116,728	262,468
1997	121,454	268,198
1998	-12,157	275,568
1999	180,721	283,297
2000	196,055	293,186
2001	204,108	302,682
2002	212,014	316,041
2003	225,822	331,189
2004	231,877	349,352
2005	239,272	368,756
2006	246,706	387,891
2007	256,546	403,729
2008	268,268	419,560
2009	278,859	434,458
2010	287,409	448,337
2011	303,181	459,743
2012	312,974	469,406
2013	315,983	476,846
2014	227,611	483,663
2015	148,542	491,021
2016	110,553	497,521
2017	72,193	504,630
2018	168,497	515,644
2019	209,708	528,089
2020	212,332	536,484
2021	213,567	535,629
2022	211,166	563,456
2023	217,966	577,660

Maternal mortality chart: South Sudan vs Zambia

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 692 deaths per 100,000 live births in South Sudan, compared to 85 deaths in Zambia.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	South Sudan	Zambia
1985	3,845	596
1986	3,720	619
1987	8,045	630
1988	5,535	635
1989	5,103	635
1990	4,877	625
1991	4,764	611
1992	7,597	581
1993	7,537	532
1994	1,666	507
1995	4,430	466
1996	4,357	433
1997	4,172	403
1998	7,514	392
1999	2,048	378
2000	1,658	340
2001	1,580	306
2002	1,521	274
2003	1,199	250
2004	1,150	260
2005	1,074	264
2006	1,005	262
2007	933	324
2008	858	394
2009	823	406
2010	776	332
2011	770	291
2012	755	256
2013	771	213
2014	1,216	174
2015	1,436	154
2016	1,629	158
2017	1,662	141
2018	913	117
2019	745	103
2020	729	99
2021	749	140
2022	704	89
2023	692	85

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 9.87% in South Sudan 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 Sudan	Zambia
1960	35.5%	20.5%
1961	35.2%	20.1%
1962	34.9%	19.8%
1963	34.6%	19.5%
1964	34.3%	19.2%
1965	34%	19%
1966	33.6%	18.9%
1967	33.3%	18.7%
1968	32.9%	18.5%
1969	32.6%	18.3%
1970	32.3%	17.9%
1971	31.9%	17.4%
1972	31.6%	16.9%
1973	31.3%	16.3%
1974	30.9%	15.9%
1975	30.6%	15.5%
1976	30.2%	15.4%
1977	29.9%	15.3%
1978	29.5%	15.3%
1979	29.2%	15.4%
1980	28.9%	15.5%
1981	28.5%	15.6%
1982	28.2%	15.7%
1983	27.8%	15.9%
1984	27.5%	16.2%
1985	27.1%	16.6%
1986	26.7%	17%
1987	36%	17.3%
1988	76.7%	17.7%
1989	30.7%	17.9%
1990	30.3%	18.1%
1991	29.7%	18.1%
1992	33.8%	18.1%
1993	33.1%	17.9%
1994	23%	17.7%
1995	27%	17.3%
1996	26.1%	17%
1997	25.2%	16.7%
1998	42.6%	16.3%
1999	19.2%	15.9%
2000	18.3%	15.3%
2001	17.4%	14.4%
2002	16.5%	13.4%
2003	15.7%	12.4%
2004	14.8%	11.4%
2005	14.1%	10.5%
2006	13.4%	9.71%
2007	12.7%	9.14%
2008	12.1%	8.62%
2009	11.5%	8%
2010	10.9%	7.57%
2011	10.5%	7.31%
2012	10.1%	7.04%
2013	9.92%	6.72%
2014	18.2%	6.38%
2015	23.7%	6.15%
2016	26.4%	5.9%
2017	27.8%	5.61%
2018	13.2%	5.52%
2019	9.87%	5.41%
2020	9.87%	5.24%
2021	9.87%	4.92%
2022	9.87%	4.67%
2023	9.87%	4.47%