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

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Malawi was 29.00 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 55 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 213.00 in 1965 and a minimum value of 29.00 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
1965 213.00
1966 212.30
1967 211.30
1968 210.20
1969 209.00
1970 206.80
1971 203.40
1972 199.10
1973 193.80
1974 188.40
1975 182.70
1976 177.00
1977 170.90
1978 164.60
1979 158.00
1980 152.70
1981 148.10
1982 145.50
1983 145.40
1984 147.20
1985 149.70
1986 151.50
1987 151.50
1988 150.00
1989 146.90
1990 142.80
1991 138.10
1992 133.20
1993 128.60
1994 124.20
1995 120.50
1996 117.50
1997 114.50
1998 111.00
1999 106.40
2000 100.50
2001 92.90
2002 84.60
2003 76.80
2004 70.10
2005 65.00
2006 61.60
2007 59.60
2008 56.50
2009 54.50
2010 52.40
2011 48.80
2012 45.60
2013 42.20
2014 39.20
2015 36.70
2016 34.60
2017 32.80
2018 31.40
2019 30.10
2020 29.00

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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