Fertility in East and South-East Asia

The East and South-East Asia (ESEA) region is characterized by ultra-low fertility -- fertility that is well below the replacement fertility level of 2.1, suggesting imminent population decline without immigration. This page provides information on fertility in the region.

Plunge into below-replacement fertility

Last year of fertility at or above replacement

The replacement fertility value is taken as 2.1 here.

Country	Fertility information	Last year when the total fertility rate (TFR) was at or above replacement according to Human Fertility Database data	Last year when the TFR was at or above replacement, according to United Nations data
Japan	fertility in Japan	1973	1972
Taiwan	fertility in Taiwan	1983	1983
Singapore	fertility in Singapore	unavailable	1975 or 1976 (value in 1976 just barely at replacement)
South Korea	fertility in South Korea	unavailable	1983
China	fertility in China	unavailable	1992

Minimum values

Country	Fertility information	Minimum TFR value according to Human Fertility Database data	Year of recorded minimum	Minimum TFR value according to United Nations data	Year of recorded minimum
Japan	fertility in Japan	1.254	2005	1.3	2003
Taiwan	fertility in Taiwan	0.887	2010	0.895	2010
Singapore	fertility in Singapore	unavailable	--	1.247	2009
South Korea	fertility in South Korea	unavailable	--	1.195	2005
China	fertility in China	unavailable	--	1.51	2000

Data on period fertility

Below is compiled data on the total fertility rate based on both Human Fertility Database and United Nations data. Blank cells indicate that data was not available for the given year.

Year	Japan HFD	Japan UN	Taiwan HFD	Taiwan UN	Singapore UN	South Korea UN	China UN
1947	4.566	4.51		5.5535			5.199
1948	4.444	4.38			6.60352	5.59	4.906
1949	4.357	4.3					5.537
1950	3.672	3.51		6.293	6.487	4.023	5.292
1951	3.281	3.367			6.538	4.326	5.262
1952	2.995	3.096			6.62	4.886	5.973
1953	2.713	2.856			6.661	5.353	5.669
1954	2.502	2.647		6.467	6.661	5.728	5.955
1955	2.383	2.468			6.62	6.01	5.978
1956	2.236	2.32		6.51	6.538	6.201	5.605
1957	2.058	2.201			6.415	6.305	6.205
1958	2.129	2.11			6.254	6.325	5.496
1959	2.061	2.044			6.055	6.272	4.266
1960	2.008	2.001			5.821	6.155	4.3
1961	1.963	1.976		5.59	5.557	5.989	5
1962	1.974	1.965			5.27	5.789	6
1963	2.001	1.965			4.967	5.574	6.1
1964	2.045	1.97			4.658	5.357	6.12
1965	2.145	1.98			4.356	5.157	6.022
1966	1.579	1.997		4.82	4.074	4.987	6.211
1967	2.224	2.02			3.815	4.845	5.252
1968	2.127	2.048			3.582	4.725	6.37
1969	2.119	2.077			3.375	4.624	5.67
1970	2.129	2.101			3.19	4.527	5.746
1971	2.153	2.113		3.71	3.014	4.414	5.396
1972	2.138	2.109			2.836	4.27	4.92
1973	2.135	2.087			2.652	4.088	4.506
1974	2.04	2.048			2.461	3.867	4.15
1975	1.9	1.997			2.272	3.618	3.576
1976	1.84	1.94	3.064	3.09	2.096	3.358	3.254
1977	1.786	1.885	2.67		1.945	3.107	2.866
1978	1.774	1.838	2.661	2.715	1.827	2.881	2.743
1979	1.751	1.802	2.6	2.67	1.743	2.686	2.798
1980	1.731	1.777	2.449	2.515	1.82	2.521	2.316
1981	1.726	1.761	2.39	2.455	1.78	2.378	2.713
1982	1.755	1.751	2.266	2.32	1.74	2.243	2.618
1983	1.788	1.741	2.112	2.17	1.61	2.11	2.72
1984	1.8	1.73	2.014	2.055	1.62	1.979	2.769
1985	1.757	1.715	1.854	1.88	1.61	1.856	2.811
1986	1.719	1.695	1.645	1.68	1.43	1.752	2.826
1987	1.689	1.67	1.673	1.7	1.62	1.674	2.806
1988	1.657	1.641	1.823	1.855	1.96	1.628	2.745
1989	1.576	1.607	1.669	1.68	1.75	1.61	2.644
1990	1.543	1.571	1.793	1.81	1.83	1.614	2.506
1991	1.537	1.535	1.709	1.72	1.73	1.631	2.342
1992	1.506	1.499	1.721	1.73	1.72	1.65	2.171
1993	1.464	1.467	1.751	1.76	1.74	1.659	2.009
1994	1.507	1.438	1.746	1.755	1.71	1.654	1.865
1995	1.426	1.413	1.768	1.775	1.67	1.632	1.746
1996	1.43	1.392	1.763	1.76	1.66	1.59	1.656
1997	1.392	1.372	1.772	1.77	1.61	1.537	1.591
1998	1.388	1.354	1.469	1.465	1.48	1.476	1.546
1999	1.347	1.337	1.556	1.555	1.47	1.413	1.52
2000	1.359	1.322	1.683	1.68	1.6	1.352	1.51
2001	1.336	1.31	1.405	1.4	1.41	1.298	1.514
2002	1.318	1.303	1.337	1.34	1.37	1.254	1.527
2003	1.29	1.3	1.231	1.235	1.27	1.221	1.546
2004	1.288	1.301	1.177	1.18	1.26	1.201	1.566
2005	1.254	1.307	1.116	1.115	1.26	1.195	1.585
2006	1.313	1.317	1.108	1.115	1.28	1.2	1.602
2007	1.331	1.329	1.091	1.1	1.29	1.212	1.617
2008	1.36	1.343	1.05	1.05	1.28	1.228	1.63
2009	1.361	1.359	1.022	1.03	1.257	1.247	1.642
2010		1.374	0.887	0.895	1.261	1.266	1.65
2011		1.389		1.065	1.267	1.285	1.657
2012		1.405		1.265	1.275	1.303	1.663