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
0 abortion not permitted
1 to save a woman's life
2 to preserve physical health and to save a woman's life
3 to preserve mental health and above
4 in case of rape and incest and most of the above
5 in case of rape and incest and above
6 in case of foetal impairment and most of the above
7 in case of foetal impairment and above
8 for economic and social reasons and most of the above
9 for economic and social reasons and the above
10 on request

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]

Legal Grounds for Abortion

What does it mean ?

This indicator shows the legal status of abortion in each country by categorising the grounds on which abortion is allowed into the following groups:

  • abortion not permitted
  • to save a woman's life
  • to preserve physical health and to save a woman's life
  • to preserve mental health and above
  • in case of rape and incest and most of the above
  • in case of rape and incest and above
  • in case of foetal impairment and most of the above
  • in case of foetal impairment and above
  • for economic and social reasons and most of the above
  • for economic and social reasons and the above
  • on request

Why does it matter ?

The legal status of abortion is an important indicator of women's ability to enjoy their reproductive rights. Legal restrictions on abortion often cause high levels of illegal and unsafe abortion, and there is a proven link between unsafe abortion and maternal mortality. There is strong evidence that legal restrictions do not stop women from having abortions, driving them instead to seek unsafe and illegal procedures which risk their lives.

How is it collected ?

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Policy Section collects these data every 2 years via their World Population Policies Database.

Findings are disseminated under the website: https://esa.un.org/PopPolicy/about_database.aspx

Download their database from this website for detailed data on grounds for abortion for individual countries.

United Nations, World Population Policies Database. http://esa.un.org/poppolicy/about_database.aspx