List of countries by birth rate

With around 23 million births in 2026, India has the highest number of births in the world, driven by its large population and relatively high fertility rate. India is well ahead of China, which records around 8.6 million births per year, reflecting China's much lower fertility rate. Five of the top ten countries by annual births are in Asia, three are in Africa, and one each is in North America and South America.

Among the 31 countries with more than one million births per year, 15 are in Africa and 12 are in Asia. Eight countries record more than 10,000 births per day. At the other end of the scale, the Holy See has the lowest number of births, with just 2 births per year.

With 44.71 births per 1,000 people per year, the Central African Republic has the highest birth rate, followed by Chad, Somalia, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all with rates above 40 births per 1,000 people. The crude birth rate refers to the number of births during a given period divided by the person-years lived by the population during that period. It is usually expressed as the number of births per 1,000 people per year.

Twenty-seven countries and territories have a birth rate above 30 births per 1,000 people per year. Of these, the top nine and a total of 25 are in Africa, while Afghanistan and Yemen are the only two outside Africa.

The Holy See has the lowest birth rate in the world, at 4.45 births per 1,000 people, followed by South Korea at 4.84. Among the 237 countries and territories projected by the UN, 76 have birth rates below 10 births per 1,000 people per year.