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

The value for Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000 live births) in The Gambia was 49.40 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 60 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 360.10 in 1960 and a minimum value of 49.40 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 360.10
1961 353.10
1962 346.60
1963 339.90
1964 333.40
1965 326.80
1966 320.50
1967 314.10
1968 307.50
1969 301.40
1970 295.10
1971 288.70
1972 282.00
1973 275.40
1974 268.70
1975 261.90
1976 255.10
1977 248.60
1978 242.40
1979 236.10
1980 229.70
1981 223.50
1982 217.00
1983 210.30
1984 203.80
1985 197.10
1986 190.70
1987 184.20
1988 178.00
1989 172.10
1990 166.30
1991 160.70
1992 155.10
1993 149.60
1994 144.00
1995 138.50
1996 133.20
1997 128.10
1998 123.00
1999 118.10
2000 113.40
2001 108.70
2002 104.20
2003 99.80
2004 95.60
2005 91.50
2006 87.60
2007 83.80
2008 80.30
2009 76.80
2010 73.60
2011 70.60
2012 67.70
2013 65.00
2014 62.40
2015 59.80
2016 57.40
2017 55.10
2018 53.10
2019 51.20
2020 49.40

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