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

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Lao PDR was 35.30 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 42 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 145.80 in 1978 and a minimum value of 35.30 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
1978 145.80
1979 141.90
1980 138.30
1981 134.70
1982 131.40
1983 128.00
1984 124.70
1985 121.50
1986 118.40
1987 115.40
1988 112.30
1989 109.10
1990 105.90
1991 102.80
1992 99.60
1993 96.40
1994 93.30
1995 90.30
1996 87.40
1997 84.60
1998 81.90
1999 79.20
2000 76.50
2001 73.90
2002 71.30
2003 68.70
2004 66.10
2005 63.60
2006 61.10
2007 58.70
2008 56.30
2009 54.00
2010 51.80
2011 49.70
2012 47.60
2013 45.70
2014 43.80
2015 42.10
2016 40.50
2017 39.10
2018 37.80
2019 36.50
2020 35.30

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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