| 1 | less than 2% |
| 2 | 2% to 4.9% |
| 3 | 5% to 9.9% |
| 4 | 10% to 14.9% |
| 5 | 15% to 24.9% |
| 6 | 25% to 34.9% |
| 7 | 35% or over |
| 8 | No Data |
| 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 |
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Births by Caesarean Section
What does it mean ?
This indicator shows the number of births by caesarean section relative to all births. Birth by caesarean section requires specialist health worker skills, an operating theatre and availability of specific drugs and medical products.
Why does it matter ?
All pregnancies are associated with risk and when medically justified, a caesarean section can prevent maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. However, because any surgery carries risk of complications, caesarean sections should not be performed unless it is medically required. According to the World Health Organisation, about 10-15 % of all births require delivery by caesarean section. As such, caesarean section rates lower than 10% indicates under-use and caesarean section rates over 15 % indicate over-use. Because birth by caesarean section requires specialist medical skills and health services, this indicators is sometimes used as a proxy indicator to measure the availability of quality of maternal health services in countries where data from health information systems and health facility surveys are limited.
How is it collected ?
Data on the percent of birth by caesarean section is usually derived from large scale, nationally representative surveys such as Demographic and Health (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), other national surveys. DHS/ MICS are household surveys where women are asked if they have given birth (usually in the last three or five years) and the circumstances surrounding the birth including if they had a caesarean section.
"The Increasing Trend in Caesarean Section Rates: Global, Regional and National Estimates: 1990-2014" Betrán, A., et al. PLoS One. 2016; 11(2): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4743929/
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]
