1 Less than 20%
2 20 to 49%
3 50% to 74%
4 75% to 94%
5 95% or more
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

Percent of Births Attended by Skilled Personnel

What does it mean ?

This indicator shows the percentage of births that take place in the presence of a skilled healthcare worker who is qualified to attend to births. The definition of a skilled birth attendant is an accredited health professional – such as a midwife, nurse or doctor – who has the necessary skills needed to manage normal pregnancy, childbirth and the period after the birth, and who is able to identify, manage and refer women and newborns if complications occur.

Why does it matter ?

All women should have skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth because the provision of skilled care at every birth significantly reduces the risk of maternal and newborn mortality. This indicator can also give us information on the use of maternity services in a country, and can measure a health system's ability to provide good care during childbirth. Skilled attendance is a crucial factor in reducing maternal and newborn death.

How is it collected ?

A national survey was undertaken in each country from a representative sample of households where women and girls were asked how many babies they have given birth to and when their births occurred. Additional questions were asked about the circumstances at each birth and whether a doctor, midwife, nurse or other skilled person was present. The indicator concerns births that occurred in the three years before the survey.

World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory data repository, accessed in August 2016 http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.REPWOMEN39?lang=en

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]