This is a list of all

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

s and dependencies by

total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, if they were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through their lifetime, and they were t ...

(TFR): the expected number of children born per woman in her child-bearing years.

Methodology

The first lists show the most recent year where there is published

(TFR) data ranked by sovereign states and dependencies, and are ordered by organization type – intergovernmental,

governmental A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, or

non-governmental A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

organization that searched, organized, and published the data. Countries are ranked by most recent years’ lists of the following types:

International organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...

s’ ranking lists The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

ranking list is based on estimates from the World Population Prospects (WPP), published by the

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Econ ...

, Population Division. The World Population Prospects provides the official United Nations demographic estimates and projections, including Total Fertility Rate (TFR), for all countries and territories of the world. These estimates are widely used as a standard reference by international organizations, governments, and researchers, and are derived from analysis of national data sources such as censuses, surveys, and vital registration systems. The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

ranking list is based on the data for the year 2020 published online. The World Bank is a

international financial institution An international financial institution (IFI) is a financial institution that has been established (or chartered) by more than one country, and hence is subject to international law. Its owners or shareholders are generally national governments, alt ...

, a component of the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...

, and a member of the

United Nations Development Group The United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), previously the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), is a group of 37 United Nations funds, programmes, specialized agencies, departments and offices that play a role in development. I ...

, but it also collects and analyses information on demography issues based on international and national sources: (1) United Nations Population Division: World Population Prospects, (2)

United Nations Statistics Division The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), formerly the United Nations Statistical Office, serves under the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) as the central mechanism within the Secretariat of the United Nations ...

: Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), (3) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (4)

Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...

: Demographic Statistics, (5) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme, and (6) U.S. Census Bureau International Database. Note: Sometimes the World Bank changes its figures of fertility rates for a certain year due to more accurate and updated information from sources. Because of that, sometimes it is necessary to update World Bank figures for fertility rates more than once for the same year. Governmental organizations ranking lists The CIA ranking list is sourced from the CIA World Factbook for the most recent year unless otherwise specified.

Sovereign states A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

and

countries A country is a distinct part of the Earth, world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, List of states with limited r ...

are ranked. Some countries might not be listed because they are not fully recognized as countries at the time of this census. The INED -

Institut National d'Études Démographiques An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

is based on the online publication ''Population & Sociétés - Tous les pays du monde (2019)'', number 569, September 2019.

Non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s ranking lists The

Population Reference Bureau The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) is a private, nonprofit organization specializing in collecting and supplying statistics necessary for research and/or academic purposes focused on the environment, and health and structure of populations. The ...

(PRB) ranking list is based on the data of the ''2024 World Population Data Sheet'' published online. The PRB is a private, nonprofit organization which informs people around the world about population, health and the environment for research or academic purposes. It was founded in 1929. World Population Data Sheets are double-sided wallcharts (now published online) that present detailed information on demographic, health and environment indicators for more than 200 countries. Notes: 1- Changes in figures of fertility rates by country from one year to another do not always reflect an actual increase or decrease of fertility rates in a certain country, but instead reflect a change made due to more accurate and updated information from sources. 2- Figures of fertility rates by country and their ranking are based on single referenced sources, from organizations that investigate demographic issues. In several instances, they do not correspond with other sources, such as other organizations and sources that are referenced in the individual demographics by country, which can be accessed by clicking on the names of the countries. These differences can be due to several factors, including primary sources, data quality, and methodology. Replacement rates Replacement fertility is the total fertility rate at which women give birth to enough babies to sustain population levels, assuming that mortality rates remain constant and net migration is zero. If replacement level fertility is sustained over a sufficiently long period, each generation will exactly replace itself. The replacement fertility rate is 2.1 births per female for most developed countries (in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, for example), but can be as high as 3.5 in undeveloped countries because of higher

mortality rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular Statistical population, population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically ...

s, especially

child mortality Child mortality is the death of children under the age of five. The child mortality rate (also under-five mortality rate) refers to the probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births. It encompa ...

. The global average for the replacement total fertility rate, eventually leading to a stable global population, for the contemporary period, 2010–2015, is 2.3 children per female. Comparison ranking lists: The

Our World in Data Our World in Data (OWID) is a scientific online publication that focuses on large global problems such as poverty, disease, hunger, war, climate change, population growth, existential risks, and inequality. It is a project of the Global Cha ...

(OWID) ''Country ranking and comparison by TFR: 1950 and 2015'' list is sourced and based on the OWID website (on the clickable map and quoted sources).

(OWID) is an

online publication Electronic publishing (also referred to as e-publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, Online magazine, digital magazines, and the development of digital library, digital libraries and cat ...

that aims to show how and why the world is changing using empirical research and data. The publication is developed at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and authored by social historian and development economist Max Roser. The World Bank ''Country ranking and comparison by TFR: 1960 and 2015'' list is sourced and based on the online published demographic data of the World Bank website (on the clickable map and quoted sources). The

(PRB) ''Country ranking and comparison by TFR: 1970 and 2013'' list is sourced and based on the data of the ''2014 World Population Data Sheet'', which was published online. Forecast/prediction ranking lists: The UN ranking list is sourced from the United Nations World Population Prospects. Figures are from the 2015 revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects report, for the period 2015–2020, using the medium assumption. and from the 2019 revision United Nations World Population Prospects report, for the period 2020–2025, using the medium assumption. The

United Nations Population Division The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) is part of the United Nations Secretariat and is responsible for the follow-up to major United Nations Summits and Conferences, as well as services to the United Nations Eco ...

, part of the DESA - Department of Economic and Social Affairs, ranking list is based on the forecast/prediction for the years 2015-2020 and 2020-2025. Only countries/territories with a population of 100,000 or more in 2019 are included. Rankings are based on the 2015–2020 and 2020-2025 figures.

Country ranking by most recent year

Country ranking by
international organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...
s

Note: (-) Data unavailable, inapplicable, not collected, or country or dependent territory not included. Sovereign states and dependent territories listed by alphabetical order, not ranked.

Country ranking by governmental organizations

Note: (-) Data unavailable, inapplicable, not collected, or country or dependent territory not included. Sovereign states and dependent territories listed by alphabetical order, not ranked.

Country ranking by
non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
s

Note: (-) Data unavailable, inapplicable, not collected, or country or dependent territory not included. Sovereign states and dependent territories listed by alphabetical order, not ranked.

Country ranking and comparison of TFR by year

1950 and 2015

Notes: (→) Country that changed name and flag, dependent territory that is now an independent country (sovereign state) from another current or extinct (dissolved) state or empire, former dependent territory from a sovereign state or empire that was included in another sovereign state. (-) Data unavailable, inapplicable, not collected, or country or dependent territory not included. Sovereign states and dependent territories listed by alphabetical order, not ranked.

1960 and 2015

1970 and 2014

Country ranking by TFR forecast

Note: (-) Data unavailable, inapplicable, not collected, or country or dependent territory not included. Sovereign states and dependent territories listed by alphabetical order, not ranked.

References

{{Oceania topic, Demographics of Fertility rate Fertility rate Human geography Fertility Demographic economics

Methodology

Country ranking by most recent year

Country ranking by international organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...s

Country ranking by governmental organizations

Country ranking by non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...s

Country ranking and comparison of TFR by year

1950 and 2015

1960 and 2015

1970 and 2014

Country ranking by TFR forecast

See also

References

Country ranking by
international organization An international organization, also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is an organization that is established by a treaty or other type of instrument governed by international law and possesses its own le ...
s

Country ranking by
non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
s