Total fertility rate of North Korea 1900-2020

In 1900, the region of present-day North Korea had a fertility rate of approximately 6.1 children per woman, meaning a woman born in North Korea in the given year could expect to have just over six children throughout the course of her reproductive years. This rate would remain largely consistent until the 1940s, however, the middle of the century would see dramatic rises and falls in fertility, as Japan's annexation of the Korean peninsula in the Second World War, and the subsequent Korean War in the early-1950s saw large scale socioeconomic turmoil in the peninsula. Because of this, fertility halved to 3.1 between 1940 and 1950, before spiking to 5.1 by the 1960s.

North Korea's fertility rate fluctuated in the decades following these wars, as the country recovered and came to grips with its new structure; while the total fertility rate began upon a more consistent trajectory of decline from the 1980s onwards. In 2020, it is estimated that the average woman born in North Korea can expect to have approximately 1.9 children over the course of their reproductive years.