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

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Lesotho was 69.90 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 141.00 in 1965 and a minimum value of 66.60 in 1992.

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 140.10
1961 139.40
1962 139.60
1963 140.10
1964 140.60
1965 141.00
1966 140.70
1967 139.80
1968 138.30
1969 136.30
1970 133.80
1971 131.10
1972 128.30
1973 125.20
1974 121.90
1975 118.00
1976 113.80
1977 109.40
1978 105.00
1979 100.50
1980 95.90
1981 91.60
1982 87.50
1983 83.80
1984 80.50
1985 77.50
1986 74.80
1987 72.40
1988 70.40
1989 68.70
1990 67.50
1991 66.80
1992 66.60
1993 67.10
1994 67.90
1995 68.70
1996 69.20
1997 69.20
1998 69.40
1999 69.50
2000 70.00
2001 70.50
2002 71.20
2003 72.20
2004 73.00
2005 74.00
2006 74.50
2007 73.80
2008 77.10
2009 73.60
2010 70.90
2011 69.00
2012 70.20
2013 71.00
2014 71.90
2015 72.60
2016 72.90
2017 73.10
2018 72.10
2019 71.40
2020 69.90

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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