Cameroon - Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Cameroon was 48.30 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 164.90 in 1960 and a minimum value of 48.30 in 2020.

Definition: Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Source: Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.

See also:

Year Value
1960 164.90
1961 161.10
1962 158.10
1963 155.40
1964 152.60
1965 149.30
1966 145.30
1967 140.60
1968 135.50
1969 130.30
1970 125.70
1971 121.60
1972 118.50
1973 116.30
1974 114.90
1975 114.20
1976 113.60
1977 112.90
1978 111.80
1979 110.10
1980 107.80
1981 105.00
1982 101.80
1983 98.40
1984 94.90
1985 91.60
1986 88.80
1987 86.60
1988 85.20
1989 84.50
1990 84.70
1991 85.50
1992 86.70
1993 88.00
1994 89.10
1995 89.90
1996 90.40
1997 90.50
1998 90.20
1999 89.10
2000 87.60
2001 85.80
2002 83.70
2003 81.70
2004 79.70
2005 78.10
2006 76.20
2007 74.60
2008 72.70
2009 71.10
2010 68.60
2011 66.60
2012 64.20
2013 61.60
2014 59.50
2015 57.00
2016 55.20
2017 53.20
2018 51.30
2019 49.90
2020 48.30

Development Relevance: Mortality rates for different age groups (infants, children, and adults) and overall mortality indicators (life expectancy at birth or survival to a given age) are important indicators of health status in a country. Because data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. And they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries.

Limitations and Exceptions: Complete vital registration systems are fairly uncommon in developing countries. Thus estimates must be obtained from sample surveys or derived by applying indirect estimation techniques to registration, census, or survey data. Survey data are subject to recall error, and surveys estimating infant/child deaths require large samples because households in which a birth has occurred during a given year cannot ordinarily be preselected for sampling. Indirect estimates rely on model life tables that may be inappropriate for the population concerned. Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The main sources of mortality data are vital registration systems and direct or indirect estimates based on sample surveys or censuses. A "complete" vital registration system - covering at least 90 percent of vital events in the population - is the best source of age-specific mortality data. Estimates of neonatal, infant, and child mortality tend to vary by source and method for a given time and place. Years for available estimates also vary by country, making comparisons across countries and over time difficult. To make neonatal, infant, and child mortality estimates comparable and to ensure consistency across estimates by different agencies, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), which comprises the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the United Nations Population Division, and other universities and research institutes, developed and adopted a statistical method that uses all available information to reconcile differences. The method uses statistical models to obtain a best estimate trend line by fitting a country-specific regression model of mortality rates against their reference dates.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development ac

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Mortality