Under-Five Mortality Rate
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Contents |
Introduction
Under-5 mortality, a Millennium Development Goal indicator, is a leading indicator of child health and overall development.[1] This indicator measures child survival. It also reflects the social, economic and environmental conditions in which children (and others in society) live, including their health care. Because data on the incidences and prevalence of diseases (morbidity data) frequently are unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. The under-five mortality rate captures more than 90 percent of global mortality among children under the age of 18.[2]
Definition and Data
Under-five mortality rate is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to current age-specific mortality rates.[3]
Generally, data are available from several sources. One of the major organizations producing data is the UN Inter-agency Group on Child Mortality Estimation, a group consisting of UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) and which also includes the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank.[4]
Rates and Trends
Overall, under-5 mortality has decreased throughout the world, from 90 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 65 in 2008. Under-5 mortality has decreased among countries at all income levels. However, under-5 mortality did not decrease for all countries, for example, remaining basically unchanged for Afghanistan (260 in 1990 and 257 in 2008) and the Central African Republic (178 in 1990 and 173 in 2008). On average, under-5 mortality rate is much lower among high income countries, at 7 per 1,000 live births in 2008 than it is among low income countries, at 118 in 2008.[5]
Gender Issues
Overall, for the world as a whole, under-5 mortality rates are the same for boys and girls. However, the rate varies by income group and region. In general, under-5 mortality is higher for boys than it is for girls among low income countries and upper middle and high income countries. The pattern seems reversed for lower middle income countries. Similarly, under-5 mortality is higher among boys for most regions of the world except the South East Asia region where it is reversed, and there is little difference among boys and girls in the Eastern Mediterranean region.[6] Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries without significant parental gender preferences. Under-five mortality better captures the effect of gender discrimination than infant mortality, as nutrition and medical interventions are more important in this age group, while biological differences have a higher impact during the first year of life. There may be gender-based biases in the reporting of child deaths.
Disaggregation Issues
Under-five mortality generally shows large disparities across geographical areas and between rural and urban areas. Under-five mortality may also vary across socio-economic groups. Children in some ethnic groups might also be at higher risk of malnutrition, poorer health and higher mortality. However, showing and analyzing data on specific ethnic groups may be a sensitive issue in the country. Gender differences may also be more pronounced in some social and ethnic groups.[2]
Data
Child Survival
Hans Rosling on child survival as a key indicator towards progress.
See also
Statistics and Human Well-Being
References
- ↑ Health Status Statistics: Mortality. World Health Organization, Health statistics and health information systems. Retrieved 8 February 2011 from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/indunder5mortality/en/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 (2003). Indicators for Monitoring the Millennium Development Goals. The United Nations. New York: The United Nations.
- ↑ The World Bank Group. (2010). Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000). Retrieved February 7, 2011, from The World Bank Group, Data Tables http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.MORT This definition is quoted from the World Bank, and used according to it's terms and conditions: "The World Bank: The World Bank authorizes the use of this material subject to the terms and conditions on its website, http://www.worldbank.org/terms."
- ↑ Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. Retrieved February 7, 2011 from http://www.childmortality.org/cmeMain.html
- ↑ World Health Organization, 2010. World Health Statistics. Retrieved on 2/9/11 from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/mortality_child/en/index.html
- ↑ World Health Organization, 2010. World Health Statistics data tables, retrieved 2/9/11 from http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/2010/en/index.html
