Fertility & birth rates in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe 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 3.72 in Zimbabwe in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe 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	Zimbabwe
1960	5.35	7.2
1961	5.24	7.21
1962	5.18	7.23
1963	5.12	7.23
1964	5.06	7.23
1965	4.93	7.23
1966	4.83	7.2
1967	4.79	7.16
1968	4.66	7.11
1969	4.5	7.04
1970	4.39	6.98
1971	4.27	6.94
1972	4.16	6.94
1973	4	6.94
1974	3.86	6.88
1975	3.82	6.83
1976	3.78	6.77
1977	3.74	6.71
1978	3.81	6.66
1979	3.82	6.59
1980	3.73	6.52
1981	3.65	6.45
1982	3.32	6.33
1983	3.11	6.2
1984	3.01	6.04
1985	2.9	5.87
1986	2.74	5.69
1987	2.64	5.5
1988	2.57	5.28
1989	2.58	5.07
1990	2.54	4.88
1991	2.51	4.72
1992	2.49	4.57
1993	2.44	4.39
1994	2.4	4.28
1995	2.35	4.15
1996	2.29	4.11
1997	2.22	4.08
1998	2.14	4.07
1999	2.14	4.06
2000	2.21	4.01
2001	2.28	3.98
2002	2.31	3.93
2003	2.3	3.86
2004	2.27	3.78
2005	2.26	3.69
2006	2.29	3.64
2007	2.3	3.68
2008	2.23	3.78
2009	2.18	3.95
2010	2.13	4.04
2011	2.14	4.13
2012	2.17	4.13
2013	2.18	4.11
2014	2.13	4.01
2015	2.09	3.91
2016	2.06	3.83
2017	2.04	3.77
2018	2.03	3.74
2019	2.02	3.75
2020	2.01	3.75
2021	2	3.77
2022	1.98	3.77
2023	1.97	3.72
2024	1.95	3.67
2025	1.94	3.62
2026	1.93	3.57
2027	1.91	3.52
2028	1.9	3.47
2029	1.89	3.43
2030	1.88	3.38
2031	1.87	3.33
2032	1.86	3.29
2033	1.85	3.25
2034	1.85	3.21
2035	1.84	3.17
2036	1.83	3.13
2037	1.83	3.09
2038	1.82	3.06
2039	1.81	3.02
2040	1.81	2.99
2041	1.8	2.96
2042	1.8	2.93
2043	1.8	2.9
2044	1.79	2.87
2045	1.79	2.84
2046	1.79	2.81
2047	1.78	2.78
2048	1.78	2.75
2049	1.77	2.72
2050	1.77	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe
1960	41%	47.3%
1961	40.9%	47.7%
1962	40.8%	48.1%
1963	40.7%	48.5%
1964	40.6%	48.8%
1965	40.5%	48.7%
1966	40.4%	48.6%
1967	40.3%	48.5%
1968	40.1%	48.5%
1969	39.9%	48.4%
1970	39.7%	48.3%
1971	39.5%	48.2%
1972	39.2%	48.2%
1973	38.8%	48.1%
1974	38.4%	48.1%
1975	38%	48.1%
1976	37.6%	48.2%
1977	37.2%	48.3%
1978	36.9%	48.5%
1979	36.7%	48.8%
1980	36.4%	48.7%
1981	36.2%	48.4%
1982	36%	48.3%
1983	35.8%	48.2%
1984	35.5%	48.1%
1985	35.2%	48%
1986	34.6%	47.9%
1987	34%	47.9%
1988	33.5%	47.9%
1989	33%	47.6%
1990	32.5%	47.1%
1991	32.1%	46.6%
1992	31.4%	46.8%
1993	30.6%	47.1%
1994	29.9%	46.6%
1995	29.2%	45.9%
1996	28.6%	45%
1997	28.2%	44%
1998	27.8%	43.1%
1999	27.4%	42.4%
2000	27%	41.9%
2001	26.6%	41.5%
2002	26.3%	41.4%
2003	26.1%	41.5%
2004	26%	41.7%
2005	25.8%	41.9%
2006	25.7%	42%
2007	25.7%	42.1%
2008	25.6%	42.4%
2009	25.5%	42.7%
2010	25.4%	43%
2011	25.3%	43.4%
2012	25.2%	43.7%
2013	25%	43.9%
2014	24.9%	43.9%
2015	24.7%	43.8%
2016	24.5%	43.6%
2017	24.2%	43.3%
2018	24%	42.9%
2019	23.7%	42.5%
2020	23.3%	42.2%
2021	23%	41.9%
2022	22.7%	41.6%
2023	22.4%	41.3%
2024	22%	40.9%
2025	21.7%	40.3%
2026	21.4%	39.6%
2027	21.1%	39%
2028	20.8%	38.4%
2029	20.5%	37.8%
2030	20.2%	37.4%
2031	20%	37%
2032	19.8%	36.8%
2033	19.6%	36.5%
2034	19.4%	36.3%
2035	19.2%	36.1%
2036	19.1%	35.8%
2037	18.9%	35.6%
2038	18.8%	35.3%
2039	18.7%	35.1%
2040	18.6%	34.8%
2041	18.4%	34.6%
2042	18.3%	34.3%
2043	18.2%	34.1%
2044	18.1%	33.8%
2045	18%	33.5%
2046	17.9%	33.2%
2047	17.7%	32.9%
2048	17.6%	32.6%
2049	17.5%	32.2%
2050	17.3%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 22% of the population in Sri Lanka and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 32.5% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.75% in Sri Lanka and +2.34% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	247,631	126,959
1961	251,087	131,531
1962	256,719	136,317
1963	262,880	140,984
1964	269,584	145,848
1965	272,422	151,164
1966	275,549	156,014
1967	284,738	161,205
1968	286,642	166,865
1969	286,218	172,626
1970	286,719	178,979
1971	281,200	185,427
1972	282,494	193,725
1973	278,577	201,885
1974	275,521	208,806
1975	282,496	216,947
1976	291,816	221,419
1977	300,038	225,139
1978	317,055	222,979
1979	329,791	223,657
1980	328,155	241,179
1981	328,096	271,361
1982	300,030	279,934
1983	277,768	286,545
1984	263,175	290,052
1985	247,836	290,756
1986	233,782	289,894
1987	226,414	286,766
1988	219,184	277,498
1989	212,401	270,838
1990	224,454	265,444
1991	218,117	260,943
1992	222,230	255,291
1993	226,257	228,045
1994	228,904	216,343
1995	221,957	206,695
1996	215,290	205,269
1997	208,193	216,288
1998	201,059	225,614
1999	206,876	232,393
2000	227,060	236,343
2001	244,377	227,909
2002	252,840	244,170
2003	252,008	243,057
2004	212,527	248,307
2005	248,683	248,545
2006	248,706	248,963
2007	248,287	261,805
2008	232,225	280,527
2009	200,175	309,316
2010	224,325	335,570
2011	224,461	359,572
2012	229,138	371,135
2013	221,021	374,757
2014	211,541	366,350
2015	201,815	356,203
2016	194,232	348,772
2017	187,993	344,035
2018	183,610	345,883
2019	172,243	348,798
2020	170,968	354,790
2021	121,858	349,908
2022	95,378	371,243
2023	66,111	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe

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 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe
1985	68	573
1986	66	525
1987	64	480
1988	62	431
1989	61	382
1990	59	353
1991	57	332
1992	54	333
1993	51	331
1994	49	332
1995	48	332
1996	47	352
1997	45	357
1998	43	368
1999	41	399
2000	39	405
2001	37	467
2002	36	418
2003	35	455
2004	37	451
2005	32	454
2006	32	480
2007	31	519
2008	30	526
2009	28	540
2010	26	567
2011	25	564
2012	24	558
2013	23	525
2014	23	468
2015	22	428
2016	22	411
2017	21	389
2018	21	386
2019	20	388
2020	23	380
2021	34	446
2022	22	368
2023	18	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.61% in Sri Lanka and 4.42% in Zimbabwe. 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	Zimbabwe
1960	9.41%	15.2%
1961	8.95%	14.8%
1962	8.66%	14.4%
1963	8.48%	14%
1964	8.3%	13.5%
1965	8.07%	13.1%
1966	7.81%	12.7%
1967	7.55%	12.4%
1968	7.32%	12.1%
1969	7.14%	11.8%
1970	7.02%	11.7%
1971	6.94%	11.5%
1972	6.86%	11.5%
1973	6.77%	11.4%
1974	6.62%	11.4%
1975	6.41%	11.4%
1976	6.12%	11.5%
1977	5.77%	11.5%
1978	5.38%	11.5%
1979	4.99%	11.3%
1980	4.63%	11.1%
1981	4.29%	10.7%
1982	3.98%	10.1%
1983	3.67%	9.5%
1984	3.35%	8.87%
1985	3.02%	8.31%
1986	2.74%	7.86%
1987	2.54%	7.61%
1988	2.41%	7.55%
1989	2.74%	7.69%
1990	2.33%	7.97%
1991	2.32%	8.33%
1992	2.29%	8.73%
1993	2.22%	9.16%
1994	2.14%	9.52%
1995	2.05%	9.83%
1996	1.95%	10%
1997	1.86%	10.1%
1998	1.76%	10%
1999	1.69%	9.92%
2000	1.63%	9.83%
2001	1.58%	9.79%
2002	1.55%	8.48%
2003	1.52%	8.85%
2004	2.88%	9.17%
2005	1.4%	9.23%
2006	1.33%	9.4%
2007	1.26%	9.47%
2008	1.2%	9.34%
2009	2.08%	9.03%
2010	1.12%	8.5%
2011	1.08%	7.88%
2012	1.03%	7.14%
2013	0.98%	6.55%
2014	0.92%	6.18%
2015	0.87%	5.98%
2016	0.83%	5.69%
2017	0.79%	5.5%
2018	0.76%	5.23%
2019	0.72%	5.11%
2020	0.69%	5.01%
2021	0.66%	4.76%
2022	0.64%	4.6%
2023	0.61%	4.42%