Countries with Highest Fertility Rate
Niger and Chad typically lead the world in fertility rates, with averages exceeding 6 births per woman. Sub-Saharan African countries dominate the top of this ranking, driven by a combination of cultural factors, limited access to contraception, and lower levels of female education.
The global replacement rate is 2.1 births per woman, the level needed to maintain a stable population. Many European and East Asian countries now sit well below this threshold, leading to aging populations and shrinking workforces.
This ranking uses total fertility rate data from the World Bank and the United Nations Population Division.
The ranking
| 1 |  | Somalia | 6.13 |
| 2 |  | Chad | 6.12 |
| 3 |  | Niger | 6.06 |
| 4 |  | DR Congo | 6.05 |
| 5 |  | Central African Republic | 6.01 |
| 6 |  | Mali | 5.61 |
| 7 |  | Angola | 5.12 |
| 8 |  | Burundi | 4.88 |
| 9 |  | Afghanistan | 4.84 |
| 10 |  | Mozambique | 4.76 |
| 11 |  | Mauritania | 4.7 |
| 12 |  | Tanzania | 4.61 |
| 13 |  | Yemen | 4.59 |
| 14 |  | Benin | 4.56 |
| 15 |  | Nigeria | 4.48 |
| 16 |  | Sudan | 4.32 |
| 17 |  | Cameroon | 4.32 |
| 18 |  | Ivory Coast | 4.28 |
| 19 |  | Uganda | 4.28 |
| 20 |  | Guinea | 4.22 |
| 21 |  | Togo | 4.19 |
| 22 |  | Burkina Faso | 4.19 |
| 23 |  | Republic of the Congo | 4.16 |
| 24 |  | Zambia | 4.1 |
| 25 |  | Equatorial Guinea | 4.08 |
| 26 |  | Gambia | 4.01 |
| 27 |  | Ethiopia | 3.99 |
| 28 |  | Madagascar | 3.97 |
| 29 |  | Liberia | 3.95 |
| 30 |  | Comoros | 3.88 |
| 31 |  | South Sudan | 3.86 |
| 32 |  | Guinea-Bissau | 3.84 |
| 33 |  | Samoa | 3.83 |
| 34 |  | Senegal | 3.82 |
| 35 |  | Sierra Leone | 3.79 |
| 36 |  | Zimbabwe | 3.72 |
| 37 |  | Eritrea | 3.71 |
| 38 |  | Rwanda | 3.7 |
| 39 |  | Malawi | 3.65 |
| 40 |  | Gabon | 3.65 |
| 41 |  | São Tomé and Príncipe | 3.64 |
| 42 |  | Pakistan | 3.61 |
| 43 |  | Vanuatu | 3.6 |
| 44 |  | Solomon Islands | 3.56 |
| 45 |  | Uzbekistan | 3.5 |
| 46 |  | Ghana | 3.4 |
| 47 |  | Nauru | 3.33 |
| 48 |  | Palestine | 3.31 |
| 49 |  | Iraq | 3.25 |
| 50 |  | Namibia | 3.21 |
Questions
Which country leads this fertility rate ranking?
Somalia leads the available sovereign-country records, with 6.13 births/woman. The source year is 2022. This is a comparison of countries with data, rather than a claim about missing countries.
How is the ranking calculated?
Recorded values from World Bank, 2022, are sorted from highest to lowest. Territories are excluded, and missing values are not treated as zero. 50 of 194 countries with data are shown.
