List of countries by fertility rate

The total fertility rate (TFR), or often simply 'fertility rate,' in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates.

Chad has the highest fertility rate of 5.94 children per woman, followed by Somalia at 5.91. Six countries have TFR above 5. 25 countries/territories have fertility rates over 4, of which the first 8 and a total of 23 belong to Africa. Afghanistan and Yemen are the remaining two.

Out of 237 countries and dependent territories estimated by the UN, 103 have a fertility rate more than the population replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. Replacement fertility is the total fertility rate at which women give birth to enough babies to sustain population levels.

Macao has the lowest fertility rate of 0.69, followed by Hong Kong (0.74) and South Korea (0.75). Seven countries/regions have a fertility rate below one.

Countries with higher fertility rates tend to have lower median ages and higher population growth rates. In the list of top 50 countries by higher fertility rates, 49 have a median age below 25 years, only two have a population growth rate below 1%, and 10 have below 2%. In the list of the top 50 countries with the lowest fertility rate, only three have a median age less than 35 years, and only six have a population growth rate over 1%.