Births
In 2023, 132 million babies were born in the world, by the UN estimate, and 61.7 million people died.
The number of births was highest in 2012, at 146 million.
The average number of children per woman fell from 4.85 in 1950 to 2.25 in 2023.
In the UN medium projection, deaths outnumber births in the world from 2084 on.
| Rank | Country | Births | Children per woman |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  India | 23,219,489 | 1.98 |
| 2 |  China | 8,899,881 | 1.00 |
| 3 |  Nigeria | 7,509,758 | 4.48 |
| 4 |  Pakistan | 6,882,058 | 3.61 |
| 5 |  Indonesia | 4,482,359 | 2.13 |
| 6 |  Democratic Republic of the Congo | 4,369,683 | 6.05 |
| 7 |  Ethiopia | 4,105,685 | 3.99 |
| 8 |  United States | 3,657,476 | 1.62 |
| 9 |  Bangladesh | 3,489,953 | 2.16 |
| 10 |  Brazil | 2,601,670 | 1.62 |
Children per woman is the total fertility rate: the number of children a woman would have if, at each age, she had the birth rate of that year.
Sources: World Population Prospects 2024, UN DESA Population Division (CC BY 3.0 IGO).
Go further
Years up to 2023 are UN estimates. Later years are projections, the medium variant unless said otherwise. Methodology