Ranked: Countries With the Highest Fertility Rates in 2025

Pallavi Rao
2025-02-25 14:41:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

Ranked: Countries With the Highest Fertility Rates in 2025

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This graphic ranks the top 20 countries with the highest fertility rates as of 2025.

Data is sourced from UN World Population Prospects 2024, with estimates used for this year. Only sovereign countries have been included in this graphic.

Skip to the last section for an explanation of what fertility rates are and why tracking them is important.

Africa’s Population Boom Has Just Started

Of the 20 countries with the highest fertility rates (# of children born to a woman in her lifetime), 18 can be found in Africa.

Rank	Country	Region	Fertility Rate (2025)
1	Chad	Africa	5.9
2	Somalia	Africa	5.9
3	DRC	Africa	5.9
4	Central African Republic	Africa	5.8
5	Niger	Africa	5.8
6	Mali	Africa	5.4
7	Angola	Africa	5.0
8	Burundi	Africa	4.7
9	Afghanistan	Asia	4.7
10	Mozambique	Africa	4.6
11	Mauritania	Africa	4.6
12	Tanzania	Africa	4.5
13	Benin	Africa	4.4
14	Yemen	Asia	4.4
15	Nigeria	Africa	4.3
16	Sudan	Africa	4.2
17	Cameroon	Africa	4.2
18	Côte d’Ivoire	Africa	4.2
19	Togo	Africa	4.1
20	Uganda	Africa	4.1
N/A	Replacement Rate	N/A	2.1

Note: Figures rounded.

Why?

It stems from a combination of factors. Limited contraception, high child mortality, economic and cultural factors, and lower female education all play a role.

Children are perceived as a source of future support, which leads to a rapidly-growing population.

Fertility rates tend to be higher in developing countries than in industrialized ones. This is partly because the opportunity cost of childbearing increases when women join the workforce. As women’s participation boosts productivity, raises household incomes, and stimulates consumer demand, many opt to have fewer children.

As a result, many of the countries with the lowest rates can be found in Europe.

So, What is the Fertility Rate Exactly?

The fertility rate is the average number of children born per woman of child-bearing age in a country. Usually, a woman between 15 and 45 is considered to be in her child-bearing years.

More importantly, 2.1 children per woman is the “replacement rate,” which keeps the population stable by replacing both parents and accounting for infant mortality. Anything higher results in population growth. Anything lower results in population decline.

However, this assumes no migration and that mortality rates stay constant (no sudden famine, disease, or war).

High fertility rates may signal limited access to education, healthcare, and jobs, but low rates can lead to population decline unless offset by immigration.

Declining populations come with a whole other set of problems: increasing old-age dependency ratios, and potentially falling consumer demand.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Want to see a direct result of Africa’s high fertility rates? As it happens, we have the perfect chart for that. Check out: Every Continent’s Peak Population Year This Century to see their expected growth trajectory.

The post Ranked: Countries With the Highest Fertility Rates in 2025 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

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