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Number of infant deaths

What you should know about this indicator

Rationale

Number of infant deaths measures the magnitude of child mortality.

Definition

Number of infant deaths is the count of deaths occurring to an infant, before reaching the age of one.

Method of estimation

These numbers of infant deaths are estimates, derived from the estimated UN IGME infant mortality rate and the population from World Population Prospects published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; hence they are not necessarily the same as the official national statistics. More precisely, let's take 1q0= probability of dying between 0 to 1, estimated by infant mortality rate estimated by the UN IGME . Then, the central death rate M0 and M1 is computed as follows: M0 = 1q0/[1-(1-a)* 1q0] where a is the fraction of year lived by an infant = 0.1 for low mortality country and a= 0.3 for high mortality country Finally, to obtain the number of deaths, country population estimates of 0 and 1-4 from the latest WPP are applied to the death rates.

Number of infant deaths
Number of infant deaths is the count of deaths occurring to an infant, before reaching the age of one.
Source
World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
January 3, 2024
Next expected update
January 2025
Date range
1951–2021
Unit
%

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The GHO data repository is WHO's gateway to health-related statistics for its 194 Member States. It provides access to over 1000 indicators on priority health topics including mortality and burden of diseases, the Millennium Development Goals (child nutrition, child health, maternal and reproductive health, immunization, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected diseases, water and sanitation), non communicable diseases and risk factors, epidemic-prone diseases, health systems, environmental health, violence and injuries, equity among others.

Retrieved on
January 3, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/data/gho
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Health Organization. 2024. Global Health Observatory data repository. http://www.who.int/gho/en/. Accessed on 2024-01-03

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Number of infant deaths”. Our World in Data (2024). Data adapted from World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-infant-deaths-gho [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2024) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. “Number of infant deaths” [dataset]. World Health Organization, “Global Health Observatory” [original data]. Retrieved July 4, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-infant-deaths-gho