South Korea: lower fertility than Japan
children per woman, 2025
Now 0.80 children per woman, against 1.14 in Japan. In 1950: 6.06 against 3.62. It fell below Japan first in 1985, and without a break since 2002.
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The total fertility rate: how many children a woman would have on average at the age-specific birth rates of the year.
Blue is the country of the headline, orange the one it is compared with; one scale. The ring marks where the lines crossed; the gap after it is shaded. The large numbers are the latest year both share.
- South Korea: Total fertility rate children per woman
6.06 (1950) → 0.80 (2025)
UN DESA, World Population Prospects 2024 → National Data Office (국가데이터처, formerly Statistics Korea), '2025 Birth Statistics' (final), released 2026-08-26, Table 1 and appendix table 1
- Japan: Total fertility rate children per woman
3.62 (1950) → 1.14 (2025)
UN DESA, World Population Prospects 2024 → MHLW, 令和7(2025)年 人口動態統計月報年計(概数)の概況 (June 2026), 第1表/第2表 (年次推移)
Well-known countries against every country of sufficient size. An overtaking counts if the country was well behind at the start, ahead in no more than a fifth of the years before it, and it lasts to the latest shared year (at least two or three years in a row). A short dip of up to two years does not end a lead and is named. At most three overtakings per well-known country, and each country in at most one card of a kind.
UN estimates and national statistics for recent years where published. The rate of a year also moves when births are put off to later ages. Where statistics print one decimal, the lead must be at least 0.05.
A question for this picture
What changed faster: incomes, cities, or the idea of how many children is “normal”?