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

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in China was 5.50 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 51 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 83.40 in 1969 and a minimum value of 5.50 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
1969 83.40
1970 79.70
1971 76.00
1972 72.50
1973 68.90
1974 65.30
1975 61.60
1976 58.10
1977 54.80
1978 51.70
1979 49.10
1980 46.90
1981 45.10
1982 43.60
1983 42.60
1984 42.10
1985 41.80
1986 41.90
1987 42.10
1988 42.40
1989 42.70
1990 42.70
1991 42.40
1992 41.80
1993 40.90
1994 39.70
1995 38.40
1996 36.90
1997 35.40
1998 33.70
1999 31.90
2000 29.90
2001 27.80
2002 25.60
2003 23.40
2004 21.40
2005 19.40
2006 17.70
2007 16.20
2008 14.80
2009 13.60
2010 12.50
2011 11.50
2012 10.60
2013 9.80
2014 9.00
2015 8.30
2016 7.60
2017 7.00
2018 6.40
2019 5.90
2020 5.50

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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