Niger’s fertility rate stood at 6.32 births per woman in 2025, more than three times the replacement level of roughly 2.1 that keeps a population stable over the long run, and enough for it to be described by Statista as having a fertility rate of nearly seven children per woman as recently as 2024. Niger is not an isolated case. Of the 31 countries in the world where women averaged four or more children in 2023, 29 were in Africa, a level of geographic concentration found in almost no other demographic indicator.
What Does Above Replacement Fertility Mean?
Replacement-level fertility is the average number of children per woman required for a population to exactly replace itself from one generation to the next without migration, typically set at approximately 2.1 births per woman under conditions found in most contemporary populations, a threshold that accounts for the small number of children who do not survive to reproductive age themselves.
Any country with a total fertility rate above this level is, in the absence of significant emigration, adding population through natural increase alone, while any country below it depends increasingly on population momentum or immigration to avoid eventual decline, dynamics explored in more depth elsewhere in demographic literature.
Which Countries Have the Highest Fertility?
Global rankings of fertility rate are dominated so consistently by the same handful of countries that year-to-year shuffling among the very top spots reflects methodology and revision differences more than any real change in underlying demographic conditions.
In 2023, Statista-compiled data placed Somalia, Chad, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo together at the top with fertility rates around 6.1, followed closely by the Central African Republic and Mali. Using 2024 data, Niger topped the ranking outright at 6.64 children per woman, with Mali following.
Countries With the Highest Fertility Rates, 2023-2024 (Compiled)
| Rank | Country | Total Fertility Rate (Children per Woman) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niger | 6.32 to 6.64 (varies by year/source) |
| 2 | Chad | approximately 6.1 to 6.12 |
| 3 | Somalia | approximately 6.1 to 6.13 |
| 4 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | approximately 6.1 |
| 5 | Central African Republic | above 6.0 |
| 6 | Mali | above 6.0 |
Source: Statista compilations of UN DESA World Population Prospects data, 2023 and 2024 editions; Macrotrends, Niger Fertility Rate 1950-2025. Figures vary slightly between sources and years due to differing revision dates.
Where High Fertility Is Concentrated
The geographic concentration behind these rankings is extreme even by the standards of global demographic data. Of the 20 countries with the highest fertility rates in the world, only Afghanistan and Yemen fall outside Sub-Saharan Africa, according to Statista’s 2023 compilation, a pattern that has held consistently across multiple recent years of data.
Africa’s overall regional fertility rate, while gradually declining from roughly the levels recorded in 2000, remains the highest of any continent in the world, well above the global average and dramatically above Europe and North America, both of which register fertility rates below two children per woman.
Regional Fertility Rate Comparison, 2023 (Approximate)
| Region | Approximate Total Fertility Rate |
|---|---|
| Africa | well above 4.0 |
| Global average | 2.2 |
| Europe | below 2.0 |
| North America | below 2.0 |
Source: Statista, “Total Fertility Rate,” compiled from UN DESA World Population Prospects data.
Why Fertility Remains High in Some Populations
High fertility in the world’s highest-ranking countries reflects several interlocking factors rather than any single cause. Persistently high infant and child mortality remains a central driver: parents in areas with elevated child mortality frequently have more children partly to compensate for the statistical likelihood that not all will survive to adulthood, a pattern most pronounced in Chad, where lack of healthcare access, food instability, political instability, and climate pressures all compound to keep infant mortality elevated.
Economic structure reinforces this pattern in many of these countries, where heavy reliance on small-scale, labor-intensive farming increases the practical value of additional children as household labor.
Social and cultural factors documented across the region include the continued prevalence of polygamy in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and the association of large families with social status in many communities, alongside limited access to contraception and family planning services relative to wealthier regions.
High Fertility Does Not Mean High Population Growth Everywhere
Fertility rate and crude birth rate, while related, are not identical measures, and confusing them can produce misleading comparisons. Niger’s crude birth rate, 46.6 births per 1,000 people in 2024, the highest recorded in Africa, reflects both its very high fertility rate and its extremely young population structure: Niger has the youngest median age of any country in the world, just 15.1 years, meaning an unusually large share of its population is currently within or approaching reproductive age. Angola, Benin, Mali, and Uganda round out the countries with the highest crude birth rates in Africa, and all of them, along with Niger, have a median population age under 17, illustrating how youthful age structure and high fertility reinforce each other to produce exceptionally high birth numbers relative to total population.
Highest Crude Birth Rates in Africa, 2024
| Rank | Country | Births per 1,000 People |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niger | 46.6 |
| 2 | Angola | 41.1 |
| 3 | Benin | 40.3 |
| 4 | Mali | 40.0 |
| 5 | Uganda | 39.6 |
| 6 | Chad | 39.2 |
| 6 (tie) | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 39.2 |
| 8 | Somalia | 37.4 |
Source: CIA World Factbook data as compiled by Statista, “African Countries With the Highest Crude Birth Rate in 2024.”
How High Fertility Populations Are Changing
Despite currently topping every global fertility ranking, these countries are not exempt from the worldwide fertility decline; they are simply earlier in the same demographic transition already completed elsewhere. Niger’s own fertility rate has been declining steadily in recent years, falling from 6.60 in 2021 to 6.32 by 2025 according to Macrotrends data, a gradual but consistent downward trajectory rather than a stable plateau.
This mirrors the broader global pattern: worldwide average fertility fell from 5.3 children per woman in 1963 to 2.2 by 2023, more than halving within six decades, even as the specific countries at the top of the fertility ranking have shifted only modestly, since their declines started later and from a much higher base than the rest of the world’s.
What High Fertility Means for Future Population Size
The demographic consequences of sustained high fertility compound directly into future population size projections. Niger alone is counted among the ten countries with the fastest population growth in the world, a direct consequence of its combination of very high fertility and a young, rapidly expanding base of women entering reproductive age each year, the same population momentum mechanism responsible for continued growth even in countries where fertility has already begun to decline.
UN DESA’s own longer-range projections show fertility in these countries continuing to fall but remaining above the global average for decades: Niger is projected to still have the highest fertility rate in the world between 2050 and 2055, though at a considerably reduced level of approximately 3.98 children per woman, still nearly double the replacement threshold even after three more decades of projected decline.
Conclusion
The persistence of very high fertility in a small, geographically concentrated group of countries, 29 of the 31 nations with four or more children per woman located in Africa, reflects a demographic transition that started later and continues more slowly there than almost anywhere else in the world, not a departure from the global pattern of fertility decline.
Niger’s trajectory captures this precisely: still the world’s highest fertility rate today, already declining steadily from 6.60 to 6.32 children per woman within just a few years, and projected to remain the global leader through mid-century even as its own rate continues to fall toward roughly half its current level.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which countries have the highest fertility rates?
Niger, Chad, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, and Mali consistently rank at the top of global fertility tables, with Niger typically highest at around 6.3 to 6.6 children per woman depending on the year and source.
2. What does above-replacement fertility mean?
It means a country’s total fertility rate exceeds approximately 2.1 children per woman, the level generally required for a population to replace itself across generations without relying on immigration.
3. Why is fertility concentrated so heavily in Africa?
Of the 20 countries with the highest fertility rates in the world, all but two, Afghanistan and Yemen, are in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting a combination of persistently high infant mortality, agricultural economic structures that favor larger families, limited contraceptive access, and social norms favoring larger family size.
4. Is Niger’s fertility rate declining?
Yes. Niger’s fertility rate fell from 6.60 children per woman in 2021 to 6.32 in 2025, a steady if gradual decline consistent with the broader global fertility transition, though it remains the highest rate in the world.
5. What is the difference between fertility rate and birth rate?
Fertility rate measures the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her reproductive lifetime, while crude birth rate measures the number of births per 1,000 people in a population in a given year, a figure also strongly influenced by the population’s age structure.
6. Will these countries’ fertility rates keep falling?
UN DESA projections suggest yes, though slowly. Niger is still projected to hold the world’s highest fertility rate between 2050 and 2055, but at approximately 3.98 children per woman, down significantly from current levels even while remaining well above the replacement threshold.
7. What causes high fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa specifically?
Commonly cited factors include high infant and child mortality, which encourages higher birth numbers as a form of insurance, reliance on labor-intensive small-scale farming that increases the practical value of children, limited access to family planning and contraception, and, in some areas, cultural factors including polygamy and the association of large families with social status.
8. Are there any high-fertility countries outside Africa?
Yes, though far fewer. Afghanistan and Yemen are the only two countries outside Sub-Saharan Africa that appear among the 20 countries with the highest global fertility rates in recent data.
9. Does high fertility always mean high population growth?
Generally yes, though the specific growth rate also depends on mortality and migration; high-fertility countries with young population structures, like Niger, typically also show very high crude birth rates and rank among the world’s fastest-growing populations.
10. How does global fertility today compare to the past?
The global average fertility rate has fallen from 5.3 children per woman in 1963 to 2.2 in 2023, a decline of more than half within six decades, even as the highest-fertility countries today remain well above that global average.
Sources
- Statista, “Countries With the Highest Fertility Rate in 2024,” compiled from UN DESA World Population Prospects
- Statista, “Countries With the Highest Fertility Rates 2023”
- Statista, “Total Fertility Rate” chart, 2023 data
- Statista, “African Countries With the Highest Crude Birth Rate in 2024,” CIA World Factbook data
- Statista, “Fertility Rate in Africa 2000-2030”
- Macrotrends, Niger Fertility Rate 1950-2025
- United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, projected fertility rates 2050-2055
