Fertility & birth rates in Sri Lanka and United States

Fertility rate in Sri Lanka vs United States chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Sri Lanka was 1.97 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.62 in the United States in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Sri Lanka vs the United States population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Sri Lanka	United States
1960	5.35	3.65
1961	5.24	3.62
1962	5.18	3.46
1963	5.12	3.32
1964	5.06	3.19
1965	4.93	2.91
1966	4.83	2.72
1967	4.79	2.56
1968	4.66	2.46
1969	4.5	2.46
1970	4.39	2.48
1971	4.27	2.27
1972	4.16	2.01
1973	4	1.88
1974	3.86	1.84
1975	3.82	1.77
1976	3.78	1.74
1977	3.74	1.79
1978	3.81	1.76
1979	3.82	1.81
1980	3.73	1.84
1981	3.65	1.81
1982	3.32	1.83
1983	3.11	1.8
1984	3.01	1.81
1985	2.9	1.84
1986	2.74	1.84
1987	2.64	1.87
1988	2.57	1.93
1989	2.58	2.01
1990	2.54	2.08
1991	2.51	2.06
1992	2.49	2.05
1993	2.44	2.02
1994	2.4	2
1995	2.35	1.98
1996	2.29	1.98
1997	2.22	1.97
1998	2.14	2
1999	2.14	2.01
2000	2.21	2.06
2001	2.28	2.03
2002	2.31	2.02
2003	2.3	2.05
2004	2.27	2.05
2005	2.26	2.06
2006	2.29	2.11
2007	2.3	2.12
2008	2.23	2.07
2009	2.18	2
2010	2.13	1.93
2011	2.14	1.89
2012	2.17	1.88
2013	2.18	1.86
2014	2.13	1.86
2015	2.09	1.84
2016	2.06	1.82
2017	2.04	1.77
2018	2.03	1.73
2019	2.02	1.71
2020	2.01	1.64
2021	2	1.66
2022	1.98	1.66
2023	1.97	1.62
2024	1.95	1.62
2025	1.94	1.62
2026	1.93	1.62
2027	1.91	1.62
2028	1.9	1.62
2029	1.89	1.62
2030	1.88	1.62
2031	1.87	1.62
2032	1.86	1.62
2033	1.85	1.63
2034	1.85	1.62
2035	1.84	1.63
2036	1.83	1.63
2037	1.83	1.63
2038	1.82	1.63
2039	1.81	1.63
2040	1.81	1.63
2041	1.8	1.63
2042	1.8	1.63
2043	1.8	1.63
2044	1.79	1.63
2045	1.79	1.64
2046	1.79	1.64
2047	1.78	1.63
2048	1.78	1.64
2049	1.77	1.63
2050	1.77	1.64

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sri Lanka	United States
1960	41%	31.3%
1961	40.9%	31.4%
1962	40.8%	31.3%
1963	40.7%	31.1%
1964	40.6%	30.9%
1965	40.5%	30.7%
1966	40.4%	30.4%
1967	40.3%	30%
1968	40.1%	29.5%
1969	39.9%	29%
1970	39.7%	28.6%
1971	39.5%	28%
1972	39.2%	27.4%
1973	38.8%	26.6%
1974	38.4%	25.9%
1975	38%	25.2%
1976	37.6%	24.4%
1977	37.2%	23.8%
1978	36.9%	23.2%
1979	36.7%	22.8%
1980	36.4%	22.4%
1981	36.2%	22.1%
1982	36%	22%
1983	35.8%	21.8%
1984	35.5%	21.7%
1985	35.2%	21.5%
1986	34.6%	21.3%
1987	34%	21.3%
1988	33.5%	21.3%
1989	33%	21.5%
1990	32.5%	21.6%
1991	32.1%	21.7%
1992	31.4%	21.8%
1993	30.6%	21.9%
1994	29.9%	21.9%
1995	29.2%	21.8%
1996	28.6%	21.7%
1997	28.2%	21.5%
1998	27.8%	21.4%
1999	27.4%	21.3%
2000	27%	21.2%
2001	26.6%	21%
2002	26.3%	20.9%
2003	26.1%	20.7%
2004	26%	20.5%
2005	25.8%	20.3%
2006	25.7%	20.2%
2007	25.7%	20%
2008	25.6%	19.9%
2009	25.5%	19.8%
2010	25.4%	19.7%
2011	25.3%	19.6%
2012	25.2%	19.5%
2013	25%	19.4%
2014	24.9%	19.3%
2015	24.7%	19.2%
2016	24.5%	19.1%
2017	24.2%	18.9%
2018	24%	18.8%
2019	23.7%	18.6%
2020	23.3%	18.4%
2021	23%	18.1%
2022	22.7%	17.9%
2023	22.4%	17.6%
2024	22%	17.3%
2025	21.7%	17.1%
2026	21.4%	16.9%
2027	21.1%	16.7%
2028	20.8%	16.6%
2029	20.5%	16.4%
2030	20.2%	16.3%
2031	20%	16.1%
2032	19.8%	16%
2033	19.6%	16%
2034	19.4%	15.9%
2035	19.2%	15.9%
2036	19.1%	15.9%
2037	18.9%	15.9%
2038	18.8%	15.9%
2039	18.7%	15.9%
2040	18.6%	15.9%
2041	18.4%	16%
2042	18.3%	16%
2043	18.2%	16%
2044	18.1%	16%
2045	18%	16%
2046	17.9%	16%
2047	17.7%	16%
2048	17.6%	16%
2049	17.5%	15.9%
2050	17.3%	15.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 22% of the population in Sri Lanka and 17.3% in the United States in 2024, compared to 32.5% and 21.6% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sri Lanka and the United States compared.

Natural population change in Sri Lanka vs United States by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.75% in Sri Lanka and +0.25% in the United States. 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
	Sri Lanka	United States
1960	247,631	2,565,530
1961	251,087	2,571,681
1962	256,719	2,406,337
1963	262,880	2,289,826
1964	269,584	2,245,099
1965	272,422	1,943,030
1966	275,549	1,749,387
1967	284,738	1,669,181
1968	286,642	1,565,507
1969	286,218	1,702,487
1970	286,719	1,824,965
1971	281,200	1,640,519
1972	282,494	1,301,355
1973	278,577	1,165,499
1974	275,521	1,218,968
1975	282,496	1,252,644
1976	291,816	1,264,604
1977	300,038	1,431,556
1978	317,055	1,402,283
1979	329,791	1,597,894
1980	328,155	1,608,450
1981	328,096	1,652,153
1982	300,030	1,714,317
1983	277,768	1,636,544
1984	263,175	1,627,192
1985	247,836	1,689,258
1986	233,782	1,656,917
1987	226,414	1,720,252
1988	219,184	1,735,943
1989	212,401	1,875,826
1990	224,454	2,026,068
1991	218,117	1,926,543
1992	222,230	1,875,328
1993	226,257	1,717,685
1994	228,904	1,633,302
1995	221,957	1,546,031
1996	215,290	1,510,137
1997	208,193	1,501,014
1998	201,059	1,573,857
1999	206,876	1,564,050
2000	227,060	1,664,758
2001	244,377	1,595,826
2002	252,840	1,581,938
2003	252,008	1,653,615
2004	212,527	1,698,271
2005	248,683	1,684,445
2006	248,706	1,849,955
2007	248,287	1,897,757
2008	232,225	1,794,154
2009	200,175	1,717,920
2010	224,325	1,548,182
2011	224,461	1,441,697
2012	229,138	1,411,822
2013	221,021	1,322,711
2014	211,541	1,357,281
2015	201,815	1,270,126
2016	194,232	1,197,627
2017	187,993	1,028,037
2018	183,610	955,022
2019	172,243	887,476
2020	170,968	208,862
2021	121,858	199,137
2022	95,378	399,926
2023	66,111	502,372

Maternal mortality chart: Sri Lanka vs United States

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 18 deaths per 100,000 live births in Sri Lanka, compared to 17 deaths in the United States.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sri Lanka	United States
1985	68	11
1986	66	11
1987	64	11
1988	62	12
1989	61	12
1990	59	12
1991	57	12
1992	54	11
1993	51	12
1994	49	11
1995	48	12
1996	47	11
1997	45	11
1998	43	11
1999	41	12
2000	39	12
2001	37	13
2002	36	13
2003	35	13
2004	37	13
2005	32	13
2006	32	13
2007	31	13
2008	30	14
2009	28	15
2010	26	15
2011	25	15
2012	24	16
2013	23	16
2014	23	17
2015	22	17
2016	22	18
2017	21	18
2018	21	18
2019	20	18
2020	23	22
2021	34	31
2022	22	20
2023	18	17

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.61% in Sri Lanka and 0.65% in the United States. 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
	Sri Lanka	United States
1960	9.41%	3.01%
1961	8.95%	2.95%
1962	8.66%	2.89%
1963	8.48%	2.83%
1964	8.3%	2.77%
1965	8.07%	2.71%
1966	7.81%	2.64%
1967	7.55%	2.57%
1968	7.32%	2.49%
1969	7.14%	2.41%
1970	7.02%	2.32%
1971	6.94%	2.24%
1972	6.86%	2.15%
1973	6.77%	2.06%
1974	6.62%	1.97%
1975	6.41%	1.88%
1976	6.12%	1.79%
1977	5.77%	1.71%
1978	5.38%	1.63%
1979	4.99%	1.56%
1980	4.63%	1.5%
1981	4.29%	1.44%
1982	3.98%	1.39%
1983	3.67%	1.34%
1984	3.35%	1.3%
1985	3.02%	1.27%
1986	2.74%	1.24%
1987	2.54%	1.21%
1988	2.41%	1.19%
1989	2.74%	1.16%
1990	2.33%	1.12%
1991	2.32%	1.09%
1992	2.29%	1.05%
1993	2.22%	1.01%
1994	2.14%	0.98%
1995	2.05%	0.95%
1996	1.95%	0.92%
1997	1.86%	0.89%
1998	1.76%	0.87%
1999	1.69%	0.86%
2000	1.63%	0.84%
2001	1.58%	0.83%
2002	1.55%	0.82%
2003	1.52%	0.81%
2004	2.88%	0.81%
2005	1.4%	0.8%
2006	1.33%	0.79%
2007	1.26%	0.77%
2008	1.2%	0.76%
2009	2.08%	0.75%
2010	1.12%	0.73%
2011	1.08%	0.72%
2012	1.03%	0.7%
2013	0.98%	0.69%
2014	0.92%	0.68%
2015	0.87%	0.68%
2016	0.83%	0.67%
2017	0.79%	0.66%
2018	0.76%	0.65%
2019	0.72%	0.65%
2020	0.69%	0.65%
2021	0.66%	0.65%
2022	0.64%	0.65%
2023	0.61%	0.65%