São Tomé and Principe - Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births)

The value for Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) in São Tomé and Principe was 16.10 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 55 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 114.40 in 1986 and a minimum value of 16.10 in 2020.

Definition: Under-five mortality rate is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified 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 95.40
1966 92.30
1967 89.60
1968 87.70
1969 86.20
1970 85.60
1971 85.60
1972 86.00
1973 86.60
1974 87.30
1975 87.80
1976 88.30
1977 88.80
1978 89.30
1979 89.90
1980 90.70
1981 91.90
1982 93.50
1983 95.40
1984 97.60
1985 100.00
1986 114.40
1987 104.10
1988 105.70
1989 107.10
1990 108.20
1991 108.90
1992 109.10
1993 108.50
1994 106.90
1995 104.50
1996 101.20
1997 97.10
1998 92.50
1999 87.40
2000 82.00
2001 76.50
2002 71.00
2003 65.60
2004 60.40
2005 55.50
2006 50.90
2007 46.70
2008 42.90
2009 39.30
2010 36.10
2011 33.00
2012 30.20
2013 27.70
2014 25.30
2015 23.10
2016 21.20
2017 19.50
2018 18.10
2019 17.00
2020 16.10

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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