Notes

  • Topic: Health: Reproductive health
  • Definition: Total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.
  • Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects, (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.
  • Statistical concept and methodology: Total fertility rates are based on data on registered live births from vital registration systems or, in the absence of such systems, from censuses or sample surveys. The estimated rates are generally considered reliable measures of fertility in the recent past. Where no empirical information on age-specific fertility rates is available, a model is used to estimate the share of births to adolescents. For countries without vital registration systems fertility rates are generally based on extrapolations from trends observed in censuses or surveys from earlier years.
  • Development relevance: Reproductive health is a state of physical and mental well-being in relation to the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Means of achieving reproductive health include education and services during pregnancy and childbirth, safe and effective contraception, and prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death and disability among women of reproductive age in developing countries.
  • General comments: Relevance to gender indicator: it can indicate the status of women within households and a woman’s decision about the number and spacing of children.
  • Limitations and exceptions: Annual data series from United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects are interpolated data from 5-year period data. Therefore they may not reflect real events as much as observed data.

List of countries ordered by: Fertility rate, total (births per woman)

CountryFertility rate, total (births per woman)
1Niger7.57 births
2Somalia6.36 births
3Mali6.14 births
4Chad6.05 births
5Angola6.00 births
6D.R. Congo5.91 births
7Burundi5.86 births
8Uganda5.68 births
9Gambia5.67 births
10Timor-Leste5.62 births
11Nigeria5.59 births
12Burkina Faso5.44 births
13Mozambique5.29 births
14Zambia5.28 births
15Tanzania5.08 births
16Malawi5.05 births
17Senegal5.03 births
18Côte d'Ivoire4.94 births
19South Sudan4.94 births
20Guinea4.93 births
21Congo4.81 births
22Guinea-Bissau4.76 births
23Equatorial Guinea4.75 births
24Benin4.69 births
25Afghanistan4.65 births
26Liberia4.65 births
27Cameroon4.63 births
28Mauritania4.54 births
29Sierra Leone4.52 births
30Sao Tome and Principe4.52 births
31Iraq4.51 births
32Togo4.51 births
33Comoros4.42 births
34Madagascar4.35 births
35Sudan4.29 births
36Ethiopia4.28 births
37Kenya4.26 births
38Eritrea4.21 births
39Central African Republic4.21 births
40Least developed countries4.13 births
41Ghana4.12 births
42State of Palestine4.11 births
43Yemen4.04 births
44Samoa4.03 births
45Solomon Islands3.90 births
46Zimbabwe3.86 births
47Gabon3.85 births
48Rwanda3.80 births
49Papua New Guinea3.71 births
50Kiribati3.69 births
51Tonga3.68 births
52Pakistan3.55 births
53Namibia3.47 births
54Tajikistan3.45 births
55Jordan3.37 births
56Egypt3.31 births
57Vanuatu3.31 births
58Swaziland3.20 births
59Kyrgyzstan3.20 births
60Micronesia (Fed. States of)3.19 births
61Guatemala3.16 births
62Lesotho3.14 births
63Djibouti3.13 births
64Israel3.09 births
65Haiti2.97 births
66Philippines2.94 births
67Laos2.92 births
68Bolivia2.92 births
69Syrian Arab Republic2.90 births
70LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN2.81 births
71Algeria2.81 births
72Botswana2.80 births
73Kazakhstan2.73 births
74Saudi Arabia2.71 births
75Oman2.71 births
76Mongolia2.64 births
77Cambodia2.60 births
78Belize2.55 births
79Fiji2.54 births
80Guyana2.53 births
81Ecuador2.51 births
82Paraguay2.51 births
83Uzbekistan2.49 births
84Morocco2.49 births
85Dominican Republic2.45 births
86Indonesia2.44 births
87Peru2.43 births
88Libya2.43 births
89Panama2.42 births
90India2.40 births
91Guam2.37 births
92Venezuela2.34 births
93South Africa2.34 births
94Suriname2.34 births
95Honduras2.33 births
96Argentina2.31 births
97Seychelles2.30 births
98Turkmenistan2.27 births
99Cabo Verde2.27 births
100Nicaragua2.23 births
101New Caledonia2.22 births
102Mexico2.21 births
103Myanmar2.18 births
104Nepal2.17 births
105Bangladesh2.14 births
106Tunisia2.13 births
107Grenada2.13 births
108Maldives2.09 births
109Kuwait2.07 births
110Antigua and Barbuda2.06 births
111Sri Lanka2.06 births
112Turkey2.05 births
113Bahrain2.04 births
114French Polynesia2.03 births
115Jamaica2.02 births
116France2.01 births
117Qatar2.01 births
118Uruguay2.01 births
119New Zealand1.99 births
120Bhutan1.98 births
121Azerbaijan1.97 births
122Dem. People's Republic of Korea1.97 births
123Viet Nam1.96 births
124Saint Vincent and the Grenadines1.95 births
125Ireland1.94 births
126Malaysia1.93 births
127Iceland1.93 births
128El Salvador1.91 births
129Curaçao1.90 births
130Sweden1.88 births
131Colombia1.88 births
132Saint Lucia1.87 births
133Bahamas1.86 births
134Brunei Darussalam1.86 births
135United States of America1.84 births
136Australia1.83 births
137Georgia1.81 births
138United Kingdom1.81 births
139Costa Rica1.80 births
140Barbados1.80 births
141Albania1.79 births
142Brazil1.78 births
143United Arab Emirates1.77 births
144Trinidad and Tobago1.77 births
145Norway1.75 births
146Russian Federation1.75 births
147Chile1.75 births
148United States Virgin Islands1.74 births
149Belgium1.74 births
150Belarus1.72 births
151Lebanon1.72 births
152Netherlands1.71 births
153Finland1.71 births
154Denmark1.69 births
155Iran1.69 births
156Montenegro1.68 births
157Aruba1.65 births
158Latvia1.64 births
159Lithuania1.63 births
160Cuba1.61 births
161Canada1.60 births
162Slovenia1.58 births
163China1.57 births
164Estonia1.54 births
165Switzerland1.54 births
166TFYR Macedonia1.53 births
167Czech Republic1.53 births
168Bulgaria1.53 births
169Romania1.52 births
170Armenia1.52 births
171Ukraine1.51 births
172Luxembourg1.50 births
173Germany1.50 births
174Thailand1.50 births
175Austria1.47 births
176Japan1.46 births
177Croatia1.46 births
178Serbia1.46 births
179Hungary1.44 births
180Cyprus1.44 births
181Puerto Rico1.43 births
182Malta1.42 births
183Slovakia1.37 births
184Italy1.37 births
185Mauritius1.36 births
186Poland1.32 births
187Spain1.32 births
188Greece1.30 births
189China, Macao SAR1.28 births
190Bosnia and Herzegovina1.25 births
191Republic of Moldova1.25 births
192Singapore1.24 births
193Republic of Korea1.24 births
194Portugal1.23 births
195China, Hong Kong SAR1.20 births

Source: Health Nutrition and Population Statistics - World Bank - Downloaded in August 2017