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 Less than 25
1 25 to 49
2 50 to 74
3 75 to 99
4 100 to 149
5 150 and over
6 No Data

Newborn Mortality Rate

What does it mean ?

Newborn (or neonatal) mortality rate refers to the number of deaths of newborn babies(neonates) that occur between birth and the first completed 28 days of life. It is measured as the number of deaths in the first 28 days per every 1000 live births in a given year or period. A live birth refers to any baby that is born that shows signs of life outside of the womb.

Why does it matter ?

The majority of child deaths occur in the first month of life. The newborn mortality rate provides us with a general measure of the health environment during the earliest stages of life. It is a useful indicator of the quality of care at birth in a country. Reducing newborn mortality globally forms part of Sustainable Development Goal 3.2, to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age.

How is it collected ?

If a country has a full birth and death registration system, then calculating Newborn (or Neonatal) Mortality Rates (NMR) is simple as all births and deaths are recorded. Where registration systems are incomplete, information on the births and deaths of babies are obtained from 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.

NMR 2018 - World Bank. 2020. Mortality rate, neonatal (per 1,000 live births). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.DYN.NMRT [Accessed 9 March 2020]

A Mother Too Soon in 2015

For all too many girls around the world, pregnancy happens when they are themselves still children. However the repercussions of early motherhood can have a disastrous impact on a young woman's life. Women who give birth between the ages of 15-19 are twice as likely to die from pregnancy and birth related causes than women in their 20s, and for girls aged under 15 the risk is five times higher that women in their 20s.

Babies under one with adolescent mothers are 50% more likely to die than those with mothers in their 20s, and the younger the mother, the higher the risk.

Potential disadvantages are not just limited to health. When girls start having babies in their early teens, they miss out on school, which means they also miss opportunities to escape poverty.

As a result of unprotected sex, teenage girls are also at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV. Young girls may feel unable to ask to use condoms – and in many cases they may be forced into sex. In both Malawi and Ghana around a third of girls reported that they were "not willing at all" during their first sexual experience.

Mothers under 16

In many countries girls are often married and bear their first child before the age of 16. This is particularly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in parts of Asia and Latin America. These very young pregnancies, which carry the greatest risks for both mother and baby, are concentrated in those countries where services are poorest.

No attribution