Global fertility fell from over 5 children per woman mid‑century to near replacement today. Across 217 countries with 2024 data, Chad tops the table for fertility rate (6 births per woman), while Macao SAR, China sits at the bottom (0.58).

The top 10

1. Chad — 6
2. Somalia, Fed. Rep. — 6
3. Congo, Dem. Rep. — 6
4. Central African Republic — 6
5. Niger — 5.9
6. Mali — 5.5
7. Angola — 5
8. Burundi — 4.8
9. Afghanistan — 4.8
10. Mozambique — 4.7

At the other end of the table

• Macao SAR, China — 0.58
• Korea, Rep. — 0.75
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 0.84

What the numbers show

The global average sits at about 2.3 births per woman, with 82 of 217 countries above it. The median country (1.9) trails the leader by a wide margin. The top country reports roughly 10.4× the figure of the lowest — a reminder of how unevenly fertility rate is distributed.

Explore the complete, sortable ranking on the Fertility Rate by country map, or test your instincts in the daily map-guessing game. Data: World Bank Open Data, 2024.