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

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Zimbabwe was 37.90 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 92.70 in 1960 and a minimum value of 37.90 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 92.70
1961 90.60
1962 88.30
1963 86.00
1964 83.60
1965 81.30
1966 79.20
1967 77.30
1968 75.60
1969 74.40
1970 73.50
1971 72.90
1972 72.50
1973 72.30
1974 72.30
1975 72.40
1976 72.50
1977 72.50
1978 72.20
1979 71.40
1980 69.90
1981 67.50
1982 64.50
1983 61.10
1984 57.70
1985 54.80
1986 52.50
1987 51.10
1988 50.20
1989 50.00
1990 50.40
1991 51.20
1992 52.40
1993 53.70
1994 55.00
1995 56.30
1996 56.50
1997 55.80
1998 54.60
1999 53.20
2000 51.90
2001 51.10
2002 50.70
2003 50.40
2004 51.20
2005 51.70
2006 53.40
2007 54.60
2008 54.50
2009 54.00
2010 52.10
2011 50.80
2012 46.50
2013 44.80
2014 42.90
2015 42.10
2016 40.80
2017 39.90
2018 38.80
2019 38.10
2020 37.90

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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