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

The value for Mortality rate, under-5, female (per 1,000 live births) in Malawi was 34.30 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 55 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 337.80 in 1965 and a minimum value of 34.30 in 2020.

Definition: Under-five mortality rate, female is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn female baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to female 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
1965 337.80
1966 336.70
1967 335.00
1968 333.30
1969 331.60
1970 328.60
1971 323.50
1972 317.00
1973 309.40
1974 301.40
1975 292.60
1976 283.60
1977 274.30
1978 264.20
1979 253.90
1980 245.50
1981 238.10
1982 234.00
1983 233.90
1984 237.30
1985 241.60
1986 244.60
1987 245.20
1988 243.50
1989 239.40
1990 233.80
1991 226.60
1992 219.50
1993 212.40
1994 205.70
1995 199.80
1996 194.90
1997 189.80
1998 183.60
1999 175.50
2000 164.70
2001 150.90
2002 136.30
2003 122.80
2004 111.40
2005 102.50
2006 96.50
2007 92.30
2008 87.10
2009 82.20
2010 77.20
2011 71.00
2012 64.30
2013 57.50
2014 52.00
2015 48.00
2016 44.40
2017 41.30
2018 38.40
2019 36.10
2020 34.30

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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