Fertility & birth rates in United Kingdom and United States

Fertility rate in United Kingdom vs United States chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in the United Kingdom was 1.56 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 the United Kingdom 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
	United Kingdom	United States
1960	2.69	3.65
1961	2.78	3.62
1962	2.86	3.46
1963	2.88	3.32
1964	2.93	3.19
1965	2.86	2.91
1966	2.78	2.72
1967	2.68	2.56
1968	2.6	2.46
1969	2.51	2.46
1970	2.44	2.48
1971	2.41	2.27
1972	2.2	2.01
1973	2.04	1.88
1974	1.92	1.84
1975	1.81	1.77
1976	1.74	1.74
1977	1.69	1.79
1978	1.75	1.76
1979	1.86	1.81
1980	1.9	1.84
1981	1.82	1.81
1982	1.78	1.83
1983	1.77	1.8
1984	1.77	1.81
1985	1.79	1.84
1986	1.78	1.84
1987	1.81	1.87
1988	1.82	1.93
1989	1.79	2.01
1990	1.83	2.08
1991	1.82	2.06
1992	1.79	2.05
1993	1.76	2.02
1994	1.74	2
1995	1.71	1.98
1996	1.73	1.98
1997	1.72	1.97
1998	1.71	2
1999	1.68	2.01
2000	1.64	2.06
2001	1.63	2.03
2002	1.63	2.02
2003	1.7	2.05
2004	1.75	2.05
2005	1.76	2.06
2006	1.82	2.11
2007	1.86	2.12
2008	1.91	2.07
2009	1.89	2
2010	1.92	1.93
2011	1.91	1.89
2012	1.92	1.88
2013	1.83	1.86
2014	1.81	1.86
2015	1.8	1.84
2016	1.79	1.82
2017	1.74	1.77
2018	1.68	1.73
2019	1.63	1.71
2020	1.57	1.64
2021	1.58	1.66
2022	1.56	1.66
2023	1.56	1.62
2024	1.55	1.62
2025	1.54	1.62
2026	1.53	1.62
2027	1.53	1.62
2028	1.53	1.62
2029	1.52	1.62
2030	1.52	1.62
2031	1.52	1.62
2032	1.53	1.62
2033	1.53	1.63
2034	1.53	1.62
2035	1.53	1.63
2036	1.53	1.63
2037	1.53	1.63
2038	1.53	1.63
2039	1.53	1.63
2040	1.53	1.63
2041	1.54	1.63
2042	1.54	1.63
2043	1.54	1.63
2044	1.54	1.63
2045	1.54	1.64
2046	1.54	1.64
2047	1.54	1.63
2048	1.54	1.64
2049	1.55	1.63
2050	1.55	1.64

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	United Kingdom	United States
1960	23.3%	31.3%
1961	23.3%	31.4%
1962	23.2%	31.3%
1963	23.2%	31.1%
1964	23.3%	30.9%
1965	23.4%	30.7%
1966	23.5%	30.4%
1967	23.7%	30%
1968	23.9%	29.5%
1969	24%	29%
1970	24.1%	28.6%
1971	24.1%	28%
1972	24%	27.4%
1973	23.9%	26.6%
1974	23.6%	25.9%
1975	23.3%	25.2%
1976	22.9%	24.4%
1977	22.4%	23.8%
1978	21.9%	23.2%
1979	21.4%	22.8%
1980	21%	22.4%
1981	20.6%	22.1%
1982	20.2%	22%
1983	19.8%	21.8%
1984	19.5%	21.7%
1985	19.3%	21.5%
1986	19.1%	21.3%
1987	18.9%	21.3%
1988	18.9%	21.3%
1989	19.1%	21.5%
1990	19.1%	21.6%
1991	19.3%	21.7%
1992	19.4%	21.8%
1993	19.5%	21.9%
1994	19.6%	21.9%
1995	19.5%	21.8%
1996	19.4%	21.7%
1997	19.3%	21.5%
1998	19.3%	21.4%
1999	19.2%	21.3%
2000	18.9%	21.2%
2001	18.7%	21%
2002	18.5%	20.9%
2003	18.4%	20.7%
2004	18.3%	20.5%
2005	18.2%	20.3%
2006	18%	20.2%
2007	17.9%	20%
2008	17.8%	19.9%
2009	17.8%	19.8%
2010	17.8%	19.7%
2011	17.7%	19.6%
2012	17.8%	19.5%
2013	17.8%	19.4%
2014	17.8%	19.3%
2015	17.9%	19.2%
2016	18%	19.1%
2017	18%	18.9%
2018	18.1%	18.8%
2019	18%	18.6%
2020	18%	18.4%
2021	17.8%	18.1%
2022	17.6%	17.9%
2023	17.4%	17.6%
2024	17.2%	17.3%
2025	17%	17.1%
2026	16.7%	16.9%
2027	16.5%	16.7%
2028	16.2%	16.6%
2029	16%	16.4%
2030	15.7%	16.3%
2031	15.5%	16.1%
2032	15.3%	16%
2033	15.2%	16%
2034	15.1%	15.9%
2035	15%	15.9%
2036	14.9%	15.9%
2037	14.9%	15.9%
2038	14.8%	15.9%
2039	14.8%	15.9%
2040	14.8%	15.9%
2041	14.8%	16%
2042	14.8%	16%
2043	14.9%	16%
2044	14.9%	16%
2045	14.9%	16%
2046	15%	16%
2047	15%	16%
2048	15%	16%
2049	15%	15.9%
2050	15.1%	15.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 17.2% of the population in the United Kingdom and 17.3% in the United States in 2024, compared to 19.1% and 21.6% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of the United Kingdom and the United States compared.

Natural population change in United Kingdom vs United States by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.16% in the United Kingdom 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
	United Kingdom	United States
1960	314,400	2,565,530
1961	311,519	2,571,681
1962	340,800	2,406,337
1963	337,995	2,289,826
1964	405,000	2,245,099
1965	364,132	1,943,030
1966	333,356	1,749,387
1967	346,145	1,669,181
1968	292,622	1,565,507
1969	260,577	1,702,487
1970	244,918	1,824,965
1971	257,123	1,640,519
1972	162,650	1,301,355
1973	112,389	1,165,499
1974	67,476	1,218,968
1975	33,735	1,252,644
1976	-5,621	1,264,604
1977	0	1,431,556
1978	16,859	1,402,283
1979	61,872	1,597,894
1980	95,734	1,608,450
1981	73,234	1,652,153
1982	56,314	1,714,317
1983	61,966	1,636,544
1984	84,633	1,627,192
1985	79,170	1,689,258
1986	90,690	1,656,917
1987	136,325	1,720,252
1988	136,628	1,735,943
1989	119,861	1,875,826
1990	154,569	2,026,068
1991	143,562	1,926,543
1992	149,709	1,875,328
1993	103,893	1,717,685
1994	127,304	1,633,302
1995	87,028	1,546,031
1996	98,884	1,510,137
1997	99,138	1,501,014
1998	87,730	1,573,857
1999	64,551	1,564,050
2000	70,671	1,664,758
2001	65,032	1,595,826
2002	65,308	1,581,938
2003	89,471	1,653,615
2004	131,974	1,698,271
2005	144,963	1,684,445
2006	176,455	1,849,955
2007	196,232	1,897,757
2008	216,325	1,794,154
2009	230,422	1,717,920
2010	251,066	1,548,182
2011	259,361	1,441,697
2012	248,473	1,411,822
2013	198,830	1,322,711
2014	206,784	1,357,281
2015	175,738	1,270,126
2016	177,139	1,197,627
2017	145,125	1,028,037
2018	119,321	955,022
2019	108,342	887,476
2020	-4,272	208,862
2021	30,612	199,137
2022	39,751	399,926
2023	34,589	502,372

Maternal mortality chart: United Kingdom vs United States

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 8 deaths per 100,000 live births in the United Kingdom, compared to 17 deaths in the United States.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	United Kingdom	United States
1985	2	11
1986	2	11
1987	3	11
1988	4	12
1989	5	12
1990	6	12
1991	7	12
1992	7	11
1993	8	12
1994	9	11
1995	9	12
1996	8	11
1997	9	11
1998	10	11
1999	11	12
2000	12	12
2001	13	13
2002	13	13
2003	14	13
2004	13	13
2005	12	13
2006	12	13
2007	11	13
2008	11	14
2009	11	15
2010	10	15
2011	10	15
2012	9	16
2013	9	16
2014	9	17
2015	9	17
2016	9	18
2017	9	18
2018	9	18
2019	9	18
2020	14	22
2021	13	31
2022	15	20
2023	8	17

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.45% in the United Kingdom 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
	United Kingdom	United States
1960	2.66%	3.01%
1961	2.61%	2.95%
1962	2.56%	2.89%
1963	2.49%	2.83%
1964	2.42%	2.77%
1965	2.34%	2.71%
1966	2.28%	2.64%
1967	2.22%	2.57%
1968	2.18%	2.49%
1969	2.14%	2.41%
1970	2.1%	2.32%
1971	2.06%	2.24%
1972	2%	2.15%
1973	1.94%	2.06%
1974	1.87%	1.97%
1975	1.8%	1.88%
1976	1.72%	1.79%
1977	1.64%	1.71%
1978	1.57%	1.63%
1979	1.49%	1.56%
1980	1.41%	1.5%
1981	1.34%	1.44%
1982	1.27%	1.39%
1983	1.22%	1.34%
1984	1.17%	1.3%
1985	1.14%	1.27%
1986	1.11%	1.24%
1987	1.08%	1.21%
1988	1.04%	1.19%
1989	0.99%	1.16%
1990	0.93%	1.12%
1991	0.87%	1.09%
1992	0.82%	1.05%
1993	0.77%	1.01%
1994	0.74%	0.98%
1995	0.72%	0.95%
1996	0.7%	0.92%
1997	0.69%	0.89%
1998	0.68%	0.87%
1999	0.67%	0.86%
2000	0.65%	0.84%
2001	0.64%	0.83%
2002	0.63%	0.82%
2003	0.63%	0.81%
2004	0.61%	0.81%
2005	0.6%	0.8%
2006	0.59%	0.79%
2007	0.58%	0.77%
2008	0.56%	0.76%
2009	0.54%	0.75%
2010	0.52%	0.73%
2011	0.5%	0.72%
2012	0.48%	0.7%
2013	0.46%	0.69%
2014	0.45%	0.68%
2015	0.45%	0.68%
2016	0.44%	0.67%
2017	0.44%	0.66%
2018	0.44%	0.65%
2019	0.44%	0.65%
2020	0.44%	0.65%
2021	0.44%	0.65%
2022	0.45%	0.65%
2023	0.45%	0.65%