Mortality rate, infant, female (per 1,000 live births) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Infant mortality rate, female is the number of female infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 female 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: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Sierra Leone 73.50 2020
2 Central African Republic 70.90 2020
3 Somalia 66.90 2020
4 Nigeria 65.70 2020
5 Lesotho 62.90 2020
6 Chad 61.00 2020
7 Dem. Rep. Congo 57.60 2020
8 Guinea 55.90 2020
9 Mali 53.30 2020
10 Equatorial Guinea 52.60 2020
11 Liberia 52.50 2020
12 Côte d'Ivoire 50.90 2020
12 Benin 50.90 2020
14 Mozambique 48.70 2020
15 Burkina Faso 47.90 2020
16 Guinea-Bissau 45.80 2020
17 Mauritania 43.60 2020
18 Angola 43.10 2020
18 Cameroon 43.10 2020
20 Djibouti 42.80 2020
21 Comoros 42.50 2020
22 Niger 41.30 2020
23 Togo 39.80 2020
24 Zambia 37.80 2020
25 Sudan 35.20 2020
26 Burundi 34.40 2020
27 Zimbabwe 33.60 2020
28 Eswatini 33.30 2020
29 Botswana 32.50 2020
30 Madagascar 32.30 2020
31 Tanzania 31.60 2020
32 The Gambia 30.40 2020
33 Ethiopia 30.30 2020
34 Congo 29.50 2020
35 Ghana 29.20 2020
36 Uganda 28.40 2020
37 Kenya 27.80 2020
38 Rwanda 27.20 2020
39 Namibia 27.00 2020
40 Gabon 26.90 2020
41 Malawi 25.60 2020
42 Eritrea 25.40 2020
42 Senegal 25.40 2020
44 South Africa 23.60 2020
45 Algeria 18.10 2020
46 Egypt 15.40 2020
47 Morocco 14.30 2020
48 Mauritius 13.10 2020
49 Tunisia 12.90 2020
50 São Tomé and Principe 11.20 2020
51 Seychelles 11.10 2020
52 Cabo Verde 11.00 2020
53 Libya 8.50 2020

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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