Mortality rate, under-5, female (per 1,000 live births) - Country Ranking - Africa

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: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Somalia 108.70 2020
2 Nigeria 107.30 2020
3 Chad 103.20 2020
4 Sierra Leone 100.90 2020
5 Central African Republic 96.70 2020
6 Guinea 89.40 2020
7 Mali 85.40 2020
8 Lesotho 81.90 2020
9 Burkina Faso 80.10 2020
10 Benin 79.90 2020
11 Dem. Rep. Congo 74.50 2020
12 Niger 73.50 2020
13 Equatorial Guinea 72.40 2020
14 Liberia 72.10 2020
15 Guinea-Bissau 70.50 2020
16 Côte d'Ivoire 69.80 2020
17 Cameroon 66.30 2020
18 Mozambique 65.70 2020
19 Angola 65.50 2020
20 Mauritania 64.80 2020
21 Togo 59.20 2020
22 Zambia 56.50 2020
23 Comoros 56.00 2020
24 Sudan 51.50 2020
25 Djibouti 50.80 2020
26 Burundi 49.60 2020
27 Zimbabwe 49.00 2020
28 Madagascar 45.60 2020
29 Tanzania 45.10 2020
30 The Gambia 44.50 2020
31 Ethiopia 42.90 2020
32 Eswatini 42.10 2020
33 Botswana 40.70 2020
34 Congo 40.50 2020
35 Ghana 40.00 2020
36 Uganda 38.70 2020
37 Kenya 38.00 2020
38 Gabon 37.40 2020
39 Rwanda 36.80 2020
40 Namibia 36.20 2020
41 Malawi 34.30 2020
42 Eritrea 34.20 2020
42 Senegal 34.20 2020
44 South Africa 29.50 2020
45 Algeria 21.30 2020
46 Egypt 18.20 2020
47 Morocco 16.80 2020
48 Tunisia 15.10 2020
49 Mauritius 14.80 2020
50 São Tomé and Principe 14.30 2020
51 Seychelles 12.80 2020
51 Cabo Verde 12.80 2020
53 Libya 10.00 2020

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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