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

The value for Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Benin was 56.50 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 184.30 in 1960 and a minimum value of 56.50 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
1960 184.30
1961 181.30
1962 178.10
1963 175.00
1964 171.80
1965 168.50
1966 165.40
1967 162.50
1968 159.70
1969 156.90
1970 154.10
1971 151.50
1972 148.70
1973 145.80
1974 142.80
1975 139.90
1976 136.80
1977 133.80
1978 131.00
1979 128.50
1980 126.10
1981 123.80
1982 121.50
1983 119.40
1984 117.30
1985 115.20
1986 113.10
1987 111.00
1988 108.80
1989 106.60
1990 104.50
1991 102.40
1992 100.20
1993 98.10
1994 96.10
1995 94.10
1996 92.20
1997 90.40
1998 88.60
1999 86.80
2000 85.00
2001 83.30
2002 81.50
2003 79.80
2004 78.20
2005 76.50
2006 75.00
2007 73.60
2008 72.20
2009 70.90
2010 69.60
2011 68.30
2012 67.00
2013 65.70
2014 64.40
2015 63.20
2016 61.90
2017 60.60
2018 59.30
2019 57.90
2020 56.50

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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