Malawi - Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births)

The value for Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) in Malawi was 38.60 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 59 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 362.10 in 1961 and a minimum value of 38.60 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
1961 362.10
1962 359.50
1963 357.70
1964 356.20
1965 355.10
1966 354.00
1967 352.40
1968 350.80
1969 348.90
1970 345.40
1971 340.20
1972 333.30
1973 325.10
1974 316.40
1975 307.30
1976 298.00
1977 288.20
1978 277.80
1979 266.90
1980 258.20
1981 250.70
1982 246.30
1983 246.20
1984 249.50
1985 254.00
1986 257.20
1987 257.90
1988 256.00
1989 251.60
1990 245.70
1991 238.10
1992 230.30
1993 222.80
1994 215.80
1995 209.50
1996 204.60
1997 199.70
1998 193.60
1999 185.50
2000 174.60
2001 160.50
2002 145.50
2003 131.60
2004 119.70
2005 110.50
2006 104.20
2007 99.90
2008 94.50
2009 89.40
2010 84.20
2011 77.60
2012 70.70
2013 63.40
2014 57.60
2015 53.30
2016 49.50
2017 46.20
2018 43.10
2019 40.60
2020 38.60

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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