Fertility & birth rates in Zambia and Zimbabwe

Fertility rate in Zambia vs Zimbabwe chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Zambia was 4.1 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 Zambia 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
	Zambia	Zimbabwe
1960	6.95	7.2
1961	6.98	7.21
1962	7.01	7.23
1963	7.06	7.23
1964	7.09	7.23
1965	7.12	7.23
1966	7.14	7.2
1967	7.15	7.16
1968	7.18	7.11
1969	7.18	7.04
1970	7.22	6.98
1971	7.26	6.94
1972	7.3	6.94
1973	7.34	6.94
1974	7.36	6.88
1975	7.42	6.83
1976	7.39	6.77
1977	7.35	6.71
1978	7.29	6.66
1979	7.22	6.59
1980	7.14	6.52
1981	7.07	6.45
1982	7.04	6.33
1983	7.01	6.2
1984	6.97	6.04
1985	6.93	5.87
1986	6.87	5.69
1987	6.8	5.5
1988	6.7	5.28
1989	6.64	5.07
1990	6.57	4.88
1991	6.46	4.72
1992	6.35	4.57
1993	6.3	4.39
1994	6.26	4.28
1995	6.23	4.15
1996	6.18	4.11
1997	6.12	4.08
1998	6.07	4.07
1999	6	4.06
2000	5.92	4.01
2001	5.85	3.98
2002	5.77	3.93
2003	5.71	3.86
2004	5.7	3.78
2005	5.7	3.69
2006	5.68	3.64
2007	5.61	3.68
2008	5.53	3.78
2009	5.45	3.95
2010	5.36	4.04
2011	5.26	4.13
2012	5.14	4.13
2013	5.01	4.11
2014	4.89	4.01
2015	4.78	3.91
2016	4.67	3.83
2017	4.57	3.77
2018	4.49	3.74
2019	4.42	3.75
2020	4.32	3.75
2021	4.25	3.77
2022	4.18	3.77
2023	4.1	3.72
2024	4.04	3.67
2025	3.97	3.62
2026	3.91	3.57
2027	3.85	3.52
2028	3.77	3.47
2029	3.72	3.43
2030	3.67	3.38
2031	3.61	3.33
2032	3.56	3.29
2033	3.5	3.25
2034	3.45	3.21
2035	3.4	3.17
2036	3.35	3.13
2037	3.3	3.09
2038	3.25	3.06
2039	3.19	3.02
2040	3.15	2.99
2041	3.11	2.96
2042	3.07	2.93
2043	3.03	2.9
2044	3	2.87
2045	2.96	2.84
2046	2.93	2.81
2047	2.9	2.78
2048	2.87	2.75
2049	2.84	2.72
2050	2.81	2.69

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Zambia	Zimbabwe
1960	46%	47.3%
1961	46.2%	47.7%
1962	46.3%	48.1%
1963	46.5%	48.5%
1964	46.7%	48.8%
1965	46.9%	48.7%
1966	46.9%	48.6%
1967	47%	48.5%
1968	47.1%	48.5%
1969	47.2%	48.4%
1970	47.4%	48.3%
1971	47.7%	48.2%
1972	48%	48.2%
1973	48.3%	48.1%
1974	48.6%	48.1%
1975	48.8%	48.1%
1976	49.1%	48.2%
1977	49.2%	48.3%
1978	49.4%	48.5%
1979	49.5%	48.8%
1980	49.5%	48.7%
1981	49.4%	48.4%
1982	49.3%	48.3%
1983	49.1%	48.2%
1984	49%	48.1%
1985	48.9%	48%
1986	48.8%	47.9%
1987	48.7%	47.9%
1988	48.6%	47.9%
1989	48.5%	47.6%
1990	48.4%	47.1%
1991	48.3%	46.6%
1992	48.2%	46.8%
1993	48.2%	47.1%
1994	48.2%	46.6%
1995	48.2%	45.9%
1996	48.2%	45%
1997	48.2%	44%
1998	48.2%	43.1%
1999	48.1%	42.4%
2000	48%	41.9%
2001	47.8%	41.5%
2002	47.6%	41.4%
2003	47.4%	41.5%
2004	47.3%	41.7%
2005	47.1%	41.9%
2006	47%	42%
2007	46.8%	42.1%
2008	46.6%	42.4%
2009	46.4%	42.7%
2010	46.3%	43%
2011	46.1%	43.4%
2012	45.9%	43.7%
2013	45.7%	43.9%
2014	45.5%	43.9%
2015	45.2%	43.8%
2016	44.9%	43.6%
2017	44.5%	43.3%
2018	44.1%	42.9%
2019	43.8%	42.5%
2020	43.3%	42.2%
2021	42.9%	41.9%
2022	42.4%	41.6%
2023	42%	41.3%
2024	41.5%	40.9%
2025	41%	40.3%
2026	40.5%	39.6%
2027	40%	39%
2028	39.6%	38.4%
2029	39.2%	37.8%
2030	38.8%	37.4%
2031	38.5%	37%
2032	38.1%	36.8%
2033	37.8%	36.5%
2034	37.5%	36.3%
2035	37.1%	36.1%
2036	36.8%	35.8%
2037	36.5%	35.6%
2038	36.1%	35.3%
2039	35.8%	35.1%
2040	35.4%	34.8%
2041	35.1%	34.6%
2042	34.7%	34.3%
2043	34.4%	34.1%
2044	34%	33.8%
2045	33.7%	33.5%
2046	33.3%	33.2%
2047	33%	32.9%
2048	32.6%	32.6%
2049	32.3%	32.2%
2050	32%	31.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 41.5% of the population in Zambia and 40.9% in Zimbabwe in 2024, compared to 48.4% and 47.1% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Zambia and Zimbabwe compared.

Natural population change in Zambia vs Zimbabwe by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +2.87% in Zambia 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
	Zambia	Zimbabwe
1960	102,335	126,959
1961	106,318	131,531
1962	110,173	136,317
1963	114,555	140,984
1964	117,197	145,848
1965	122,814	151,164
1966	127,164	156,014
1967	131,938	161,205
1968	137,315	166,865
1969	142,660	172,626
1970	149,380	178,979
1971	155,249	185,427
1972	161,648	193,725
1973	168,258	201,885
1974	174,484	208,806
1975	182,258	216,947
1976	186,762	221,419
1977	191,557	225,139
1978	194,933	222,979
1979	197,578	223,657
1980	198,817	241,179
1981	202,822	271,361
1982	207,621	279,934
1983	212,712	286,545
1984	216,695	290,052
1985	221,351	290,756
1986	224,768	289,894
1987	227,813	286,766
1988	230,118	277,498
1989	233,429	270,838
1990	235,835	265,444
1991	237,957	260,943
1992	239,953	255,291
1993	245,917	228,045
1994	252,023	216,343
1995	257,897	206,695
1996	262,468	205,269
1997	268,198	216,288
1998	275,568	225,614
1999	283,297	232,393
2000	293,186	236,343
2001	302,682	227,909
2002	316,041	244,170
2003	331,189	243,057
2004	349,352	248,307
2005	368,756	248,545
2006	387,891	248,963
2007	403,729	261,805
2008	419,560	280,527
2009	434,458	309,316
2010	448,337	335,570
2011	459,743	359,572
2012	469,406	371,135
2013	476,846	374,757
2014	483,663	366,350
2015	491,021	356,203
2016	497,521	348,772
2017	504,630	344,035
2018	515,644	345,883
2019	528,089	348,798
2020	536,484	354,790
2021	535,629	349,908
2022	563,456	371,243
2023	577,660	372,505

Maternal mortality chart: Zambia vs Zimbabwe

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 85 deaths per 100,000 live births in Zambia, compared to 358 deaths in Zimbabwe.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Zambia	Zimbabwe
1985	596	573
1986	619	525
1987	630	480
1988	635	431
1989	635	382
1990	625	353
1991	611	332
1992	581	333
1993	532	331
1994	507	332
1995	466	332
1996	433	352
1997	403	357
1998	392	368
1999	378	399
2000	340	405
2001	306	467
2002	274	418
2003	250	455
2004	260	451
2005	264	454
2006	262	480
2007	324	519
2008	394	526
2009	406	540
2010	332	567
2011	291	564
2012	256	558
2013	213	525
2014	174	468
2015	154	428
2016	158	411
2017	141	389
2018	117	386
2019	103	388
2020	99	380
2021	140	446
2022	89	368
2023	85	358

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 4.47% in Zambia 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
	Zambia	Zimbabwe
1960	20.5%	15.2%
1961	20.1%	14.8%
1962	19.8%	14.4%
1963	19.5%	14%
1964	19.2%	13.5%
1965	19%	13.1%
1966	18.9%	12.7%
1967	18.7%	12.4%
1968	18.5%	12.1%
1969	18.3%	11.8%
1970	17.9%	11.7%
1971	17.4%	11.5%
1972	16.9%	11.5%
1973	16.3%	11.4%
1974	15.9%	11.4%
1975	15.5%	11.4%
1976	15.4%	11.5%
1977	15.3%	11.5%
1978	15.3%	11.5%
1979	15.4%	11.3%
1980	15.5%	11.1%
1981	15.6%	10.7%
1982	15.7%	10.1%
1983	15.9%	9.5%
1984	16.2%	8.87%
1985	16.6%	8.31%
1986	17%	7.86%
1987	17.3%	7.61%
1988	17.7%	7.55%
1989	17.9%	7.69%
1990	18.1%	7.97%
1991	18.1%	8.33%
1992	18.1%	8.73%
1993	17.9%	9.16%
1994	17.7%	9.52%
1995	17.3%	9.83%
1996	17%	10%
1997	16.7%	10.1%
1998	16.3%	10%
1999	15.9%	9.92%
2000	15.3%	9.83%
2001	14.4%	9.79%
2002	13.4%	8.48%
2003	12.4%	8.85%
2004	11.4%	9.17%
2005	10.5%	9.23%
2006	9.71%	9.4%
2007	9.14%	9.47%
2008	8.62%	9.34%
2009	8%	9.03%
2010	7.57%	8.5%
2011	7.31%	7.88%
2012	7.04%	7.14%
2013	6.72%	6.55%
2014	6.38%	6.18%
2015	6.15%	5.98%
2016	5.9%	5.69%
2017	5.61%	5.5%
2018	5.52%	5.23%
2019	5.41%	5.11%
2020	5.24%	5.01%
2021	4.92%	4.76%
2022	4.67%	4.6%
2023	4.47%	4.42%