1 0 to 5
2 5 to 10
3 10 to 20
4 20 to 30
5 30 to 40
6 40+
7 No Data
1 Less than $15
2 $15 to $53
3 $54 to $99
4 $100 to $299
5 $300 to $999
6 $1000 or over
7 no data

Infant Mortality Rate

What does it mean ?

The infant mortality rate is the probability that a child will die between the time of birth and exactly 1 year of age; it is expressed per every 1000 live births in that same year. A live birth refers to any baby that is born that shows signs of life outside of the womb.

Why does it matter ?

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was chosen as one of the indicators to be tracked as part of the targets of Millennium Development Goal 4, to reduce child mortality. It is a general indicator of child health. Rather than being an indicator that looks specifically at health care delivery it is an indicator of the socio-economic, environmental and nutritional status of children.

How is it collected ?

A preferable source of data for calculating Infant Mortality Rates is from nationally registered births and deaths. Where registration systems are incomplete, other methods are used such as household surveys where women are asked about every baby they have given birth to and how long the child survived or population censuses. To calculate the mortality estimate, the data from these sources are analysed statistically using a particular model designed by the UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

IMR 2018 - World Bank. 2020. Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN [Accessed 9 March 2020]

General Government Expenditure on Health Per Capita expressed in PPP international Dollars

What does it mean ?

This indicator shows how much of the government's own resources are allocated to health per person. It is expressed in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) international dollars. PPP is a hypothetical exchange rate that allows us to compare expenditure across countries while taking into account differences in the cost of living.

Why does it matter ?

This indicator can tell us whether a government spends enough of its own resources on health per person in order to guarantee universal coverage of essential services, particularly for vulnerable groups such as the poor, pregnant women and children. Universal coverage is unlikely to be achieved unless the government allocates sufficient funds to health so that everybody can access the health services they need regardless of their ability to pay. While other funding sources such as donor funds can also make an important contribution to the provision of equitable services, these funds may not be spent according to the country's priorities and may not provide a reliable source of funding in the long-term. There is no consensus on how much funding a government should allocate to health since different countries will have different needs and different contexts. However 54 (PPP) international dollars is often used as a benchmark - for example, this is the minimum amount required to achieve the health MDGs according to the 2010 Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems.

How is it collected ?

The preferred source of data for this indicator is a National Health Account, which is an internationally agreed method for collecting information about all financial flows related to health in a country. Where a recent National Health Account is not available, the WHO's health financing team collects similar information using technical contacts in-country and publicly available documents.

2014 WHO World Health Statistics Report http://apps.who.int/nha/database