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

The value for Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) in Bulgaria was 6.10 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 55.40 in 1960 and a minimum value of 6.10 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
1960 55.40
1961 48.80
1962 44.00
1963 40.80
1964 38.80
1965 37.70
1966 37.00
1967 36.40
1968 35.50
1969 34.10
1970 32.50
1971 31.00
1972 30.00
1973 29.50
1974 29.20
1975 28.70
1976 28.10
1977 27.10
1978 26.00
1979 24.90
1980 23.80
1981 23.00
1982 22.20
1983 21.50
1984 20.70
1985 19.70
1986 18.70
1987 18.00
1988 17.70
1989 17.90
1990 18.40
1991 19.00
1992 19.20
1993 19.20
1994 19.10
1995 19.30
1996 19.40
1997 19.30
1998 18.90
1999 18.30
2000 17.50
2001 16.70
2002 15.90
2003 15.10
2004 14.20
2005 13.30
2006 12.40
2007 11.80
2008 11.40
2009 11.10
2010 10.80
2011 10.40
2012 9.80
2013 9.30
2014 8.70
2015 8.20
2016 7.70
2017 7.30
2018 7.00
2019 6.60
2020 6.10

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 Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.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