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

The value for Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) in South Africa was 32.20 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 46 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 130.50 in 1974 and a minimum value of 32.20 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
1974 130.50
1975 123.70
1976 117.20
1977 111.10
1978 105.40
1979 100.00
1980 95.00
1981 90.20
1982 85.80
1983 81.70
1984 77.90
1985 74.40
1986 71.10
1987 68.10
1988 65.30
1989 62.90
1990 60.90
1991 59.60
1992 58.90
1993 59.10
1994 60.10
1995 61.70
1996 63.80
1997 65.60
1998 67.80
1999 70.00
2000 71.50
2001 73.10
2002 74.30
2003 75.70
2004 77.70
2005 78.80
2006 79.20
2007 75.30
2008 68.90
2009 60.30
2010 52.00
2011 45.60
2012 41.50
2013 39.30
2014 37.60
2015 36.30
2016 35.20
2017 34.60
2018 33.90
2019 33.00
2020 32.20

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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