Fertility & birth rates in Sweden and United States

Fertility rate in Sweden vs United States chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Sweden was 1.45 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 Sweden 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
	Sweden	United States
1960	2.17	3.65
1961	2.21	3.62
1962	2.25	3.46
1963	2.33	3.32
1964	2.47	3.19
1965	2.39	2.91
1966	2.37	2.72
1967	2.28	2.56
1968	2.07	2.46
1969	1.93	2.46
1970	1.92	2.48
1971	1.96	2.27
1972	1.91	2.01
1973	1.87	1.88
1974	1.87	1.84
1975	1.77	1.77
1976	1.68	1.74
1977	1.64	1.79
1978	1.6	1.76
1979	1.66	1.81
1980	1.68	1.84
1981	1.63	1.81
1982	1.62	1.83
1983	1.61	1.8
1984	1.66	1.81
1985	1.74	1.84
1986	1.8	1.84
1987	1.84	1.87
1988	1.96	1.93
1989	2.01	2.01
1990	2.13	2.08
1991	2.11	2.06
1992	2.09	2.05
1993	1.99	2.02
1994	1.88	2
1995	1.73	1.98
1996	1.6	1.98
1997	1.52	1.97
1998	1.5	2
1999	1.5	2.01
2000	1.54	2.06
2001	1.57	2.03
2002	1.65	2.02
2003	1.71	2.05
2004	1.75	2.05
2005	1.77	2.06
2006	1.85	2.11
2007	1.88	2.12
2008	1.91	2.07
2009	1.94	2
2010	1.98	1.93
2011	1.9	1.89
2012	1.91	1.88
2013	1.89	1.86
2014	1.88	1.86
2015	1.85	1.84
2016	1.85	1.82
2017	1.78	1.77
2018	1.76	1.73
2019	1.71	1.71
2020	1.67	1.64
2021	1.67	1.66
2022	1.53	1.66
2023	1.45	1.62
2024	1.45	1.62
2025	1.46	1.62
2026	1.46	1.62
2027	1.47	1.62
2028	1.47	1.62
2029	1.48	1.62
2030	1.48	1.62
2031	1.49	1.62
2032	1.49	1.62
2033	1.49	1.63
2034	1.5	1.62
2035	1.5	1.63
2036	1.5	1.63
2037	1.51	1.63
2038	1.51	1.63
2039	1.51	1.63
2040	1.52	1.63
2041	1.52	1.63
2042	1.53	1.63
2043	1.53	1.63
2044	1.53	1.63
2045	1.53	1.64
2046	1.53	1.64
2047	1.54	1.63
2048	1.54	1.64
2049	1.54	1.63
2050	1.54	1.64

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Sweden	United States
1960	22.4%	31.3%
1961	22%	31.4%
1962	21.5%	31.3%
1963	21.2%	31.1%
1964	21%	30.9%
1965	20.9%	30.7%
1966	20.9%	30.4%
1967	21%	30%
1968	20.9%	29.5%
1969	20.9%	29%
1970	20.8%	28.6%
1971	20.8%	28%
1972	20.8%	27.4%
1973	20.7%	26.6%
1974	20.7%	25.9%
1975	20.7%	25.2%
1976	20.6%	24.4%
1977	20.5%	23.8%
1978	20.3%	23.2%
1979	19.9%	22.8%
1980	19.6%	22.4%
1981	19.2%	22.1%
1982	18.9%	22%
1983	18.6%	21.8%
1984	18.3%	21.7%
1985	18.2%	21.5%
1986	18%	21.3%
1987	17.9%	21.3%
1988	17.8%	21.3%
1989	17.8%	21.5%
1990	17.9%	21.6%
1991	18.1%	21.7%
1992	18.4%	21.8%
1993	18.6%	21.9%
1994	18.8%	21.9%
1995	18.9%	21.8%
1996	18.8%	21.7%
1997	18.7%	21.5%
1998	18.7%	21.4%
1999	18.6%	21.3%
2000	18.4%	21.2%
2001	18.3%	21%
2002	18.1%	20.9%
2003	17.9%	20.7%
2004	17.7%	20.5%
2005	17.4%	20.3%
2006	17.1%	20.2%
2007	16.9%	20%
2008	16.7%	19.9%
2009	16.6%	19.8%
2010	16.6%	19.7%
2011	16.7%	19.6%
2012	16.8%	19.5%
2013	17%	19.4%
2014	17.2%	19.3%
2015	17.3%	19.2%
2016	17.5%	19.1%
2017	17.7%	18.9%
2018	17.8%	18.8%
2019	17.8%	18.6%
2020	17.7%	18.4%
2021	17.7%	18.1%
2022	17.5%	17.9%
2023	17.2%	17.6%
2024	17%	17.3%
2025	16.7%	17.1%
2026	16.4%	16.9%
2027	16.2%	16.7%
2028	15.9%	16.6%
2029	15.6%	16.4%
2030	15.3%	16.3%
2031	15.1%	16.1%
2032	14.8%	16%
2033	14.5%	16%
2034	14.3%	15.9%
2035	14.1%	15.9%
2036	13.9%	15.9%
2037	13.8%	15.9%
2038	13.8%	15.9%
2039	13.8%	15.9%
2040	13.8%	15.9%
2041	13.8%	16%
2042	13.9%	16%
2043	13.9%	16%
2044	14%	16%
2045	14.1%	16%
2046	14.1%	16%
2047	14.2%	16%
2048	14.3%	16%
2049	14.4%	15.9%
2050	14.4%	15.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 17% of the population in Sweden and 17.3% in the United States in 2024, compared to 17.9% and 21.6% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Sweden and the United States compared.

Natural population change in Sweden vs United States by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.2% in Sweden 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
	Sweden	United States
1960	27,693	2,565,530
1961	30,832	2,571,681
1962	30,246	2,406,337
1963	35,741	2,289,826
1964	45,968	2,245,099
1965	44,857	1,943,030
1966	45,286	1,749,387
1967	41,700	1,669,181
1968	30,858	1,565,507
1969	23,904	1,702,487
1970	30,563	1,824,965
1971	31,583	1,640,519
1972	28,428	1,301,355
1973	24,409	1,165,499
1974	23,664	1,218,968
1975	14,746	1,252,644
1976	8,222	1,264,604
1977	7,426	1,431,556
1978	4,138	1,402,283
1979	4,976	1,597,894
1980	5,818	1,608,450
1981	1,664	1,652,153
1982	1,665	1,714,317
1983	833	1,636,544
1984	3,335	1,627,192
1985	4,175	1,689,258
1986	9,206	1,656,917
1987	11,757	1,720,252
1988	15,186	1,735,943
1989	24,629	1,875,826
1990	29,100	2,026,068
1991	29,299	1,926,543
1992	28,605	1,875,328
1993	20,924	1,717,685
1994	20,196	1,633,302
1995	9,710	1,546,031
1996	1,768	1,510,137
1997	-3,539	1,501,014
1998	-3,541	1,573,857
1999	-6,201	1,564,050
2000	-2,662	1,664,758
2001	-1,779	1,595,826
2002	893	1,581,938
2003	6,271	1,653,615
2004	9,893	1,698,271
2005	9,030	1,684,445
2006	15,436	1,849,955
2007	15,552	1,897,757
2008	18,439	1,794,154
2009	21,387	1,717,920
2010	25,320	1,548,182
2011	21,733	1,441,697
2012	20,943	1,411,822
2013	23,041	1,322,711
2014	26,179	1,357,281
2015	23,518	1,270,126
2016	25,800	1,197,627
2017	24,138	1,028,037
2018	23,403	955,022
2019	25,697	887,476
2020	14,495	208,862
2021	22,914	199,137
2022	10,487	399,926
2023	5,269	502,372

Maternal mortality chart: Sweden vs United States

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 Sweden, compared to 17 deaths in the United States.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Sweden	United States
1985	8	11
1986	8	11
1987	8	11
1988	9	12
1989	9	12
1990	8	12
1991	8	12
1992	8	11
1993	8	12
1994	7	11
1995	7	12
1996	6	11
1997	6	11
1998	6	11
1999	6	12
2000	5	12
2001	5	13
2002	5	13
2003	5	13
2004	5	13
2005	5	13
2006	5	13
2007	5	13
2008	5	14
2009	5	15
2010	5	15
2011	5	15
2012	5	16
2013	5	16
2014	5	17
2015	5	17
2016	5	18
2017	5	18
2018	5	18
2019	4	18
2020	5	22
2021	5	31
2022	5	20
2023	4	17

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.25% in Sweden 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
	Sweden	United States
1960	1.96%	3.01%
1961	1.92%	2.95%
1962	1.86%	2.89%
1963	1.79%	2.83%
1964	1.71%	2.77%
1965	1.63%	2.71%
1966	1.56%	2.64%
1967	1.49%	2.57%
1968	1.44%	2.49%
1969	1.39%	2.41%
1970	1.34%	2.32%
1971	1.29%	2.24%
1972	1.23%	2.15%
1973	1.16%	2.06%
1974	1.09%	1.97%
1975	1.03%	1.88%
1976	0.98%	1.79%
1977	0.94%	1.71%
1978	0.9%	1.63%
1979	0.87%	1.56%
1980	0.84%	1.5%
1981	0.82%	1.44%
1982	0.8%	1.39%
1983	0.78%	1.34%
1984	0.77%	1.3%
1985	0.76%	1.27%
1986	0.75%	1.24%
1987	0.74%	1.21%
1988	0.73%	1.19%
1989	0.72%	1.16%
1990	0.7%	1.12%
1991	0.66%	1.09%
1992	0.62%	1.05%
1993	0.57%	1.01%
1994	0.52%	0.98%
1995	0.48%	0.95%
1996	0.46%	0.92%
1997	0.44%	0.89%
1998	0.42%	0.87%
1999	0.41%	0.86%
2000	0.41%	0.84%
2001	0.4%	0.83%
2002	0.4%	0.82%
2003	0.39%	0.81%
2004	0.37%	0.81%
2005	0.36%	0.8%
2006	0.35%	0.79%
2007	0.33%	0.77%
2008	0.32%	0.76%
2009	0.31%	0.75%
2010	0.31%	0.73%
2011	0.3%	0.72%
2012	0.3%	0.7%
2013	0.29%	0.69%
2014	0.29%	0.68%
2015	0.29%	0.68%
2016	0.28%	0.67%
2017	0.28%	0.66%
2018	0.27%	0.65%
2019	0.26%	0.65%
2020	0.26%	0.65%
2021	0.25%	0.65%
2022	0.25%	0.65%
2023	0.25%	0.65%