What is a normal birth rate?

There is no normal. In 2023 the range ran from about 4.0 to 46.4 per 1,000. A rate of 12 to 16 per 1,000 is typical of countries with low fertility and an ageing population; 35 to 45 is typical of countries with high fertility and a young population.

Why does fertility fall as countries get richer?

The published data shows the association clearly and the causal story is contested: lower child mortality, women's education and employment, urban housing costs, and access to contraception all move together. We do not model the cause; we use the published rate.

Birth rate by country, 1950 to 2023

Birth rate and fertility

The crude birth rate is births in a year per 1,000 people alive. In 2023 the world rate was 16.3. The total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman would have over her life at that year's age-specific rates — was 2.87.

crude birth rate = births(year) ÷ population(year) × 1,000

Source: UN World Population Prospects 2024

Two measures, two questions

The crude rate is easy to compute and hard to compare: a country with many young adults has a high rate even if each woman has few children. The total fertility rate removes the age structure, so it answers "how many children per woman" rather than "how many births per head". Replacement level is about 2.1 children per woman; below that, a population eventually shrinks unless migration offsets it.

Births

Births are the sampling weights for this whole site. Every country's chance of being drawn is its share of world births that year — which is why the birth series matters beyond this page.

Births per 1,000 people and total fertility, 2023
#	Country	Births per 1,000	Total fertility	Births
1	Central African Republic	46.4	6.01	238,858
2	Somalia	43.0	6.13	788,763
3	Chad	42.4	6.12	819,054
4	Niger	41.9	6.06	1,095,892
5	Democratic Republic of the Congo	41.3	6.05	4,369,683
6	Mali	40.0	5.61	951,445
7	Angola	37.6	5.12	1,381,370
8	Mozambique	37.5	4.76	1,260,855
9	Afghanistan	35.4	4.84	1,469,029
10	Mayotte	35.4	4.62	11,186
11	United Republic of Tanzania	35.2	4.61	2,346,391
12	Yemen	35.2	4.59	1,386,914
13	Uganda	35.2	4.28	1,712,750
14	Mauritania	34.4	4.70	172,885
15	Benin	33.9	4.56	478,062
16	Guinea	33.8	4.22	487,595
17	Cameroon	33.7	4.32	957,392
18	Burundi	33.7	4.88	460,882
19	Sudan	33.6	4.32	1,682,049
20	Zambia	33.1	4.10	685,565
21	Nigeria	33.0	4.48	7,509,758
22	Madagascar	32.1	3.97	1,001,244
23	Côte d'Ivoire	32.0	4.28	997,001
24	Ethiopia	31.9	3.99	4,105,685
25	Burkina Faso	31.6	4.19	728,612
26	Malawi	31.4	3.65	662,289
27	Togo	31.1	4.19	289,759
28	Liberia	31.0	3.95	170,065
29	Congo	30.6	4.16	189,365
30	Sierra Leone	30.6	3.79	258,903
31	Gambia	30.4	4.01	82,092
32	Zimbabwe	30.4	3.72	496,917
33	Guinea-Bissau	30.0	3.84	64,679
34	Equatorial Guinea	29.6	4.08	54,694
35	Senegal	29.4	3.82	531,890
36	Comoros	28.7	3.88	24,366
37	South Sudan	28.6	3.86	328,308
38	Eritrea	28.5	3.71	99,058
39	Rwanda	28.3	3.70	395,578
40	Sao Tome and Principe	28.2	3.64	6,507
41	Vanuatu	28.1	3.60	8,988
42	Pakistan	27.8	3.61	6,882,058
43	Gabon	27.7	3.65	68,745
44	Kenya	27.1	3.21	1,499,998
45	State of Palestine	27.1	3.31	146,384
46	Solomon Islands	26.9	3.56	21,548
47	Uzbekistan	26.5	3.50	943,547
48	Ghana	26.3	3.40	888,947
49	Tajikistan	26.1	3.07	271,420
50	Namibia	25.9	3.21	76,715
51	Kiribati	25.8	3.15	3,421
52	Iraq	25.7	3.25	1,159,682
53	Nauru	25.5	3.33	303
54	French Guiana	25.4	3.39	7,707
55	Samoa	25.4	3.83	5,503
56	Botswana	24.7	2.73	61,294
57	Papua New Guinea	24.6	3.10	255,331
58	Lesotho	24.1	2.69	55,728
59	Eswatini	24.1	2.75	29,622
60	Tonga	23.1	3.13	2,418
61	Tuvalu	23.0	3.21	226
62	Micronesia (Fed. States of)	22.3	2.75	2,512
63	Haiti	22.2	2.66	258,348
64	Syrian Arab Republic	22.1	2.71	521,601
65	Timor-Leste	22.1	2.71	30,561
66	Honduras	22.0	2.50	233,793
67	Turkmenistan	21.7	2.69	160,100
68	Kyrgyzstan	21.3	2.80	150,759
69	Lao People's Democratic Republic	21.3	2.42	163,043
70	Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	21.2	2.55	260,151
71	Marshall Islands	21.1	2.92	821
72	Egypt	21.0	2.75	2,405,717
73	Guatemala	20.8	2.31	377,167
74	Djibouti	20.8	2.61	23,946
75	Cambodia	20.8	2.58	361,586
76	Jordan	20.6	2.64	235,776
77	Bangladesh	20.4	2.16	3,489,953
78	Guyana	20.3	2.41	16,764
79	Kazakhstan	20.1	3.01	409,417
80	Paraguay	20.0	2.42	136,778
81	Algeria	19.6	2.77	905,981
82	Tokelau	19.6	2.61	47
83	Nicaragua	19.4	2.22	132,214
84	Nepal	19.3	1.98	574,297
85	Mongolia	18.9	2.69	65,019
86	South Africa	18.8	2.22	1,186,793
87	Israel	18.6	2.83	172,312
88	Belize	18.0	2.01	7,410
89	Fiji	18.0	2.28	16,631
90	Dominican Republic	17.9	2.24	203,183
91	Guam	17.7	2.78	2,941
92	Suriname	17.3	2.25	10,879
93	Saint Martin (French part)	17.1	2.72	470
94	Libya	17.0	2.35	124,371
95	Oman	16.8	2.53	85,065
96	Morocco	16.7	2.23	629,832
97	Myanmar	16.7	2.12	903,822
98	Saudi Arabia	16.4	2.28	546,038
99	India	16.1	1.98	23,219,489
100	Lebanon	16.1	2.24	93,205
101	Panama	16.0	2.12	71,469
102	Philippines	16.0	1.92	1,840,477
103	Peru	15.9	1.98	539,623
104	Indonesia	15.9	2.13	4,482,359
105	El Salvador	15.8	1.78	99,428
106	Mexico	15.7	1.91	2,037,689
107	Western Sahara	15.5	2.16	8,987
108	American Samoa	15.4	2.29	731
109	Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	15.1	2.08	426,984
110	Ecuador	15.0	1.82	270,300
111	New Caledonia	14.3	1.98	4,134
112	Greenland	14.1	1.95	789
113	Sri Lanka	14.1	1.97	324,102
114	Viet Nam	13.8	1.91	1,387,961
115	Niue	13.8	2.51	25
116	Tunisia	13.7	1.83	167,729
117	Réunion	13.7	2.17	12,003
118	Seychelles	13.6	2.13	1,744
119	Brunei Darussalam	13.6	1.75	6,237
120	Colombia	13.5	1.65	705,009
121	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	13.0	1.70	1,173,463
122	Dem. People's Republic of Korea	12.9	1.78	342,038
123	Northern Mariana Islands	12.9	2.35	583
124	Bhutan	12.7	1.46	9,958
125	Faroe Islands	12.6	2.24	690
126	Cook Islands	12.5	2.05	178
127	Bahrain	12.5	1.82	19,558
128	Malaysia	12.4	1.55	435,989
129	Cabo Verde	12.3	1.52	6,440
130	Brazil	12.3	1.62	2,601,670
131	Türkiye	12.3	1.63	1,072,014
132	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	12.2	1.78	1,232
133	Azerbaijan	12.1	1.67	125,136
134	Kosovo (under UNSC res. 1244)	12.1	1.55	20,514
135	Gibraltar	12.1	1.89	464
136	Antigua and Barbuda	11.9	1.58	1,106
137	Cayman Islands	11.8	1.53	865
138	Armenia	11.8	1.71	34,668
139	Saint Kitts and Nevis	11.7	1.51	549
140	Grenada	11.7	1.49	1,371
141	Jamaica	11.6	1.36	33,007
142	Australia	11.5	1.64	304,340
143	Georgia	11.5	1.81	43,765
144	New Zealand	11.5	1.67	59,236
145	Saint Lucia	11.3	1.38	2,019
146	Guadeloupe	11.2	2.09	4,233
147	Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	11.2	1.69	39
148	Iceland	11.2	1.54	4,347
149	United States Virgin Islands	11.2	2.09	959
150	Barbados	11.2	1.71	3,155
151	Dominica	11.1	1.48	738
152	Argentina	11.1	1.50	503,823
153	Montenegro	11.0	1.80	6,981
154	Maldives	11.0	1.58	5,795
155	French Polynesia	10.9	1.50	3,066
156	Palau	10.9	1.91	193
157	Bahamas	10.9	1.37	4,335
158	Cyprus	10.8	1.39	14,524
159	Martinique	10.8	2.01	3,728
160	Republic of Moldova	10.8	1.73	32,986
161	Turks and Caicos Islands	10.7	1.46	496
162	Trinidad and Tobago	10.7	1.53	16,094
163	United States of America	10.6	1.62	3,657,476
164	Luxembourg	10.4	1.40	6,946
165	Ireland	10.3	1.60	53,268
166	Albania	10.2	1.35	28,803
167	Kuwait	10.2	1.52	49,342
168	Costa Rica	10.2	1.33	51,969
169	United Kingdom	10.0	1.56	688,388
170	Qatar	9.9	1.73	29,516
171	Uruguay	9.9	1.41	33,443
172	United Arab Emirates	9.8	1.20	104,015
173	Denmark	9.7	1.51	57,810
174	France	9.6	1.64	638,891
175	Romania	9.6	1.71	183,623
176	Slovakia	9.5	1.56	52,271
177	Aruba	9.4	1.60	1,020
178	Monaco	9.4	2.11	368
179	Switzerland	9.4	1.43	83,702
180	Liechtenstein	9.4	1.54	371
181	Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba	9.4	1.47	280
182	Norway	9.3	1.40	51,545
183	Sweden	9.3	1.43	97,915
184	Netherlands	9.3	1.43	167,842
185	Mauritius	9.3	1.24	11,804
186	Bulgaria	9.2	1.75	62,645
187	North Macedonia	9.2	1.46	16,878
188	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	9.1	1.45	390
189	Canada	9.1	1.35	356,745
190	Anguilla	9.0	1.36	130
191	Chile	9.0	1.17	176,196
192	Russian Federation	8.9	1.45	1,297,207
193	Serbia	8.8	1.50	59,840
194	Montserrat	8.8	1.44	39
195	Hungary	8.8	1.49	85,373
196	Cuba	8.7	1.44	95,938
197	Belgium	8.7	1.38	101,686
198	Wallis and Futuna Islands	8.6	1.41	98
199	Germany	8.5	1.44	719,249
200	Czechia	8.5	1.45	91,845
201	Slovenia	8.5	1.58	17,902
202	Austria	8.4	1.32	77,054
203	Isle of Man	8.3	1.55	702
204	British Virgin Islands	8.3	1.04	325
205	Portugal	8.3	1.51	86,646
206	Thailand	8.2	1.21	591,200
207	Jersey	8.2	1.37	853
208	Poland	8.2	1.30	317,916
209	Singapore	8.2	0.94	47,472
210	Guernsey	8.1	1.36	521
211	Estonia	8.1	1.35	11,036
212	Croatia	8.1	1.47	31,446
213	Bermuda	8.1	1.40	521
214	Malta	7.9	1.10	4,213
215	Finland	7.8	1.28	43,556
216	Bosnia and Herzegovina	7.7	1.49	24,569
217	Latvia	7.6	1.34	14,250
218	Curaçao	7.5	1.07	1,394
219	Lithuania	7.5	1.20	21,434
220	Saint Helena	7.4	1.64	39
221	Greece	7.2	1.33	73,661
222	Belarus	7.1	1.21	65,050
223	Spain	7.0	1.21	336,821
224	Andorra	6.9	1.08	555
225	Italy	6.5	1.20	384,627
226	China, Macao SAR	6.3	0.66	4,515
227	China	6.3	1.00	8,899,881
228	Japan	6.0	1.21	749,884
229	San Marino	5.9	1.15	200
230	Puerto Rico	5.8	0.94	18,851
231	China, Taiwan Province of China	5.7	0.87	132,404
232	Ukraine	5.6	0.98	212,231
233	China, Hong Kong SAR	5.5	0.72	41,294
234	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	5.3	1.27	30
235	Saint Barthélemy	4.8	0.80	53
236	Republic of Korea	4.6	0.72	236,394
237	Holy See	4.0	1.00	2

The crude birth rate divides by the whole population; total fertility answers a different question and is shown beside it.

Questions this page answers

What is a normal birth rate?: There is no normal. In 2023 the range ran from about 4.0 to 46.4 per 1,000. A rate of 12 to 16 per 1,000 is typical of countries with low fertility and an ageing population; 35 to 45 is typical of countries with high fertility and a young population.
Why does fertility fall as countries get richer?: The published data shows the association clearly and the causal story is contested: lower child mortality, women's education and employment, urban housing costs, and access to contraception all move together. We do not model the cause; we use the published rate.

Now live one

The odds on this page describe populations. The game draws one birth and plays that life forward, year by year, from the same tables.

Play a life See the data

Data year: 2023