Countries with the highest fertility rates – ranked

A global index of countries with the highest fertility rates, measured by total births per woman, using the latest data from the UN.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) denotes the total number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her reproductive life.

A lower or declining fertility rate should be welcomed as it reflects the empowerment of women in society and in relationships, improvements in education, strengthened women’s rights and increased well-being and status of children.

Having fewer children is also unquestionably better for the environment with recent analysis confirming that having one fewer child reduces a parent’s carbon footprint by 58.6 tonnes of CO2 a year.

10 lowest & highest fertility rates

Key findings

• The global average fertility rate is 2.4 children per woman.
• Niger has the highest fertility rate with an average of 6.9 children per woman.
• South Korea has the lowest fertility rate of just 1.0.
• Africa has the highest fertility rate of 4.4.
• Europe has the lowest fertility rate of 1.6, followed by North America (1.9), Latin America and the Caribbean (2.0), Asia (2.1) and Oceania (2.3).
• A declining fertility rate does not mean a shrinking population as life expectancy continues to increase.
• 77 countries have a fertility rate below 2.0.
• The 20 highest fertility rates are all in Africa.
• More economically developed countries – including most of Europe, Singapore, Japan South Korea, the USA, New Zealand and Australia – have lower fertility rates.

Countries with the highest fertility rates – complete ranking

The table below ranks the world’s countries by fertility rate using Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which measures the average number of children per woman.

Some countries may be missing due to inadequate data.

Rank	Country	Fertility Rate
1	Niger	6.9
2	Somalia	6.1
3	DR Congo	5.9
4	Mali	5.9
5	Chad	5.7
6	Angola	5.5
7	Burundi	5.4
8	Nigeria	5.4
9	Burkina Faso	5.2
10	The Gambia	5.2
11	Uganda	5.0
12	Mozambique	4.9
13	Tanzania	4.9
14	Benin	4.8
15	Central African Rep.	4.7
16	Guinea	4.7
17	South Sudan	4.7
18	Cameroon	4.6
19	Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	4.6
20	Mauritania	4.6
21	Senegal	4.6
22	Zambia	4.6
23	Afghanistan	4.5
24	Equatorial Guinea	4.5
25	Guinea-Bissau	4.5
26	Congo	4.4
27	Solomon Islands	4.4
28	Sudan	4.4
29	Liberia	4.3
30	Sao Tome & Principe	4.3
31	Sierra Leone	4.3
32	Togo	4.3
33	Comoros	4.2
34	Ethiopia	4.2
35	Malawi	4.2
36	Eritrea	4.1
37	Madagascar	4.1
38	Gabon	4.0
39	Marshall Islands	4.0
40	Rwanda	4.0
41	Timor-Leste	4.0
42	Ghana	3.9
43	Samoa	3.9
44	Vanuatu	3.8
45	Yemen	3.8
46	Iraq	3.7
47	Kiribati	3.6
48	Papua New Guinea	3.6
49	Tajikistan	3.6
50	Tonga	3.6
51	West Bank & Gaza	3.6
52	Zimbabwe	3.6
53	Kenya	3.5
54	Pakistan	3.5
55	Namibia	3.4
56	Egyp	3.3
57	Kyrgyzstan	3.3
58	Israel	3.1
59	Lesotho	3.1
60	Micronesia	3.1
61	Algeria	3.0
62	Eswatini	3.0
63	Botswana	2.9
64	Guatemala	2.9
65	Haiti	2.9
66	Mongolia	2.9
67	Oman	2.9
68	Fiji	2.8
69	Jordan	2.8
70	Kazakhstan	2.8
71	Syria	2.8
72	Turkmenistan	2.8
73	Bolivia	2.7
74	Djibouti	2.7
75	Lao PDR	2.7
76	Philippines	2.6
77	Cambodia	2.5
78	Guyana	2.5
79	Honduras	2.5
80	Panama	2.5
81	Ecuador	2.4
82	Morocco	2.4
83	Nicaragua	2.4
84	Paraguay	2.4
85	Seychelles	2.4
86	South Africa	2.4
87	Suriname	2.4
88	Uzbekistan	2.4
89	Argentina	2.3
90	Belize	2.3
91	Cabo Verde	2.3
92	Dominican Rep.	2.3
93	Guam	2.3
94	Indonesia	2.3
95	Peru	2.3
96	Saudi Arabia	2.3
97	Venezuela	2.3
98	India	2.2
99	Libya	2.2
100	Myanmar	2.2
101	Palau	2.2
102	Sri Lanka	2.2
103	Tunisia	2.2
104	Georgia	2.1
105	Grenada	2.1
106	Iran	2.1
107	Kuwait	2.1
108	Lebanon	2.1
109	Mexico	2.1
110	St. Kitts & Nevis	2.1
111	Turkey	2.1
112	Antigua & Barbuda	2.0
113	Bahrain	2.0
114	Bangladesh	2.0
115	Bhutan	2.0
116	El Salvador	2.0
117	Greenland	2.0
118	Jamaica	2.0
119	Kosovo	2.0
120	Malaysia	2.0
121	Uruguay	2.0
122	Vietnam	2.0
123	Aruba	1.9
124	Dominica	1.9
125	France	1.9
126	North Korea	1.9
127	Maldives	1.9
128	Nepal	1.9
129	Qatar	1.9
130	St. Vincent & the Gren.	1.9
131	Armenia	1.8
132	The Bahamas	1.8
133	Brunei Darussalam	1.8
134	Colombia	1.8
135	Costa Rica	1.8
136	Ireland	1.8
137	Romania	1.8
138	Sweden	1.8
139	Australia	1.7
140	Azerbaijan	1.7
141	Brazil	1.7
142	China	1.7
143	Curacao	1.7
144	Czech Rep.	1.7
145	Denmark	1.7
146	Estonia	1.7
147	Iceland	1.7
148	Montenegro	1.7
149	New Zealand	1.7
150	Trinidad & Tobago	1.7
151	UK	1.7
152	USA	1.7
153	Albania	1.6
154	Barbados	1.6
155	Belgium	1.6
156	Bermuda	1.6
157	Bulgaria	1.6
158	Chile	1.6
159	Cuba	1.6
160	Germany	1.6
161	Hungary	1.6
162	Latvia	1.6
163	Liechtenstein	1.6
164	Lithuania	1.6
165	Netherlands	1.6
166	Norway	1.6
167	Russia	1.6
168	Slovenia	1.6
169	Austria	1.5
170	Canada	1.5
171	Croatia	1.5
172	North Macedonia	1.5
173	Poland	1.5
174	Serbia	1.5
175	Slovakia	1.5
176	Switzerland	1.5
177	Thailand	1.5
178	Belarus	1.4
179	Finland	1.4
180	Greece	1.4
181	Japan	1.4
182	Luxembourg	1.4
183	Mauritius	1.4
184	Portugal	1.4
185	St. Lucia	1.4
186	UAE	1.4
187	Andorra	1.3
188	Bosnia & Herz.	1.3
189	Cyprus	1.3
190	Italy	1.3
191	Moldova	1.3
192	San Marino	1.3
193	Spain	1.3
194	Ukraine	1.3
195	Macao	1.2
196	Malta	1.2
197	Hong Kong	1.1
198	Singapore	1.1
199	South Korea	1.0

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators