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HomeIndicators › Cause of death, by communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions (% of total)

Health & Population

Cause of death, by communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions (% of total)

Cause of death refers to the share of all deaths for all ages by underlying causes. Communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions include infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory infections, and nutritional deficiencies such as underweight and stunting.

World Bank code: SH.DTH.COMM.ZS • Data available for 185 countries • Latest year: 2021

In , Chad led Cause of death, by communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions (% of total) at 66.42.

The world median across 185 reporting countries was 25.99.

What this measures: Cause of death refers to the share of all deaths for all ages by underlying causes. Communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions include infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory infections, and nutritional deficiencies such as underweight and stunting.

How "Health & Population" indicators are measured

Health and population indicators come from national vital-registration systems, demographic and health surveys, and modeling by the UN Population Division and WHO. Mortality and morbidity estimates are often modeled rather than directly observed in lower-capacity statistical systems, which means some figures are interpolations between survey years. Life expectancy is a "period" measure based on current age-specific mortality, not a forecast of how long someone born today will actually live.

Distribution — 2021

Reporting
185 countries
Median
25.99
Mean
30.00
25th percentile
16.97
75th percentile
41.06
Range
2.56 – 66.42

World at a Glance — 2021

Every reporting country, grouped by region, shaded by value (quintile).

East Asia & PacificAustralia: 4.19AUBrunei Darussalam: 14.42BNCambodia: 25.06KHChina: 3.20CNFiji: 22.45FJIndonesia: 34.67IDJapan: 9.94JPKiribati: 30.12KIKorea, Dem. People's Rep.: 12.58KPKorea, Rep.: 14.65KRLao PDR: 26.95LAMalaysia: 25.64MYMicronesia, Fed. Sts.: 14.07FMMongolia: 15.17MNMyanmar: 27.71MMNew Zealand: 4.51NZPapua New Guinea: 41.06PGPhilippines: 25.38PHSamoa: 10.81WSSingapore: 21.66SGSolomon Islands: 23.54SBThailand: 19.17THTimor-Leste: 39.44TLTonga: 9.99TOVanuatu: 17.63VUViet Nam: 12.40VNEurope & Central AsiaAlbania: 23.01ALArmenia: 24.57AMAustria: 11.30ATAzerbaijan: 29.08AZBelarus: 16.01BYBelgium: 17.90BEBosnia and Herzegovina: 21.90BABulgaria: 21.64BGCroatia: 15.35HRCyprus: 12.97CYCzechia: 23.46CZDenmark: 9.08DKEstonia: 12.91EEFinland: 2.56FIFrance: 14.68FRGeorgia: 28.12GEGermany: 10.71DEGreece: 19.52GRHungary: 17.92HUIceland: 4.24ISIreland: 14.72IEItaly: 15.04ITKazakhstan: 26.92KZKyrgyz Republic: 25.59KGLatvia: 14.78LVLithuania: 17.23LTLuxembourg: 14.93LUMoldova: 23.84MDMontenegro: 27.11MENetherlands: 16.46NLNorth Macedonia: 27.69MKNorway: 7.61NOPoland: 23.72PLPortugal: 15.44PTRomania: 24.27RORussian Federation: 26.86RUSerbia: 25.81RSSlovak Republic: 29.60SKSlovenia: 17.28SISpain: 12.84ESSweden: 10.70SESwitzerland: 12.42CHTajikistan: 31.37TJTurkiye: 22.30TRTurkmenistan: 26.30TMUkraine: 18.27UAUnited Kingdom: 16.97GBUzbekistan: 12.36UZLatin America & CaribbeanAntigua and Barbuda: 27.37AGArgentina: 35.62ARBahamas, The: 25.91BSBarbados: 16.44BBBelize: 27.23BZBolivia: 44.92BOBrazil: 34.09BRChile: 21.34CLColombia: 32.63COCosta Rica: 24.44CRCuba: 34.61CUDominican Republic: 22.08DOEcuador: 28.78ECEl Salvador: 21.62SVGrenada: 36.97GDGuatemala: 37.72GTGuyana: 44.02GYHaiti: 28.99HTHonduras: 27.55HNJamaica: 16.70JMMexico: 38.82MXNicaragua: 43.34NIPanama: 25.99PAParaguay: 44.72PYPeru: 53.60PEPuerto Rico (US): 12.44PRSt. Lucia: 32.62LCSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 18.99VCSuriname: 37.02SRTrinidad and Tobago: 21.08TTUruguay: 21.98UYVenezuela, RB: 15.96VEMiddle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & PakistanAfghanistan: 39.07AFAlgeria: 17.11DZBahrain: 17.18BHDjibouti: 41.94DJEgypt, Arab Rep.: 25.26EGIran, Islamic Rep.: 29.51IRIraq: 20.13IQIsrael: 18.95ILJordan: 31.50JOKuwait: 26.25KWLebanon: 34.19LBLibya: 21.81LYMalta: 12.91MTMorocco: 16.96MAOman: 33.49OMPakistan: 37.29PKQatar: 17.93QASaudi Arabia: 16.46SASyrian Arab Republic: 13.24SYTunisia: 30.24TNUnited Arab Emirates: 16.80AEWest Bank and Gaza: 25.38PSYemen, Rep.: 34.48YENorth AmericaCanada: 8.36CAUnited States: 16.55USSouth AsiaBangladesh: 26.88BDBhutan: 18.43BTIndia: 38.38INMaldives: 17.58MVNepal: 31.25NPSri Lanka: 15.44LKSub-Saharan AfricaAngola: 56.39AOBenin: 53.36BJBotswana: 58.65BWBurkina Faso: 51.05BFBurundi: 50.18BICabo Verde: 23.25CVCameroon: 54.49CMCentral African Republic: 66.31CFChad: 66.42TDComoros: 37.57KMCongo, Dem. Rep.: 55.96CDCongo, Rep.: 58.59CGCote d'Ivoire: 53.15CIEquatorial Guinea: 61.40GQEritrea: 36.99EREswatini: 51.61SZEthiopia: 48.10ETGabon: 54.62GAGambia, The: 50.22GMGhana: 43.16GHGuinea: 56.90GNGuinea-Bissau: 59.10GWKenya: 50.31KELesotho: 54.14LSLiberia: 56.97LRMadagascar: 50.41MGMalawi: 50.69MWMali: 60.59MLMauritania: 46.76MRMauritius: 15.27MUMozambique: 59.72MZNamibia: 56.15NANiger: 65.71NENigeria: 63.70NGRwanda: 38.86RWSao Tome and Principe: 31.49STSenegal: 38.95SNSeychelles: 25.67SCSierra Leone: 57.57SLSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 63.83SOSouth Africa: 46.41ZASouth Sudan: 60.40SSSudan: 44.35SDTanzania: 51.40TZTogo: 45.45TGUganda: 50.76UGZambia: 58.84ZMZimbabwe: 49.37ZW

Lighter = lower value · Darker = higher value. Hover a cell to see the country and value.

Highest Values — 2021

# Country Cause of death, by communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions (% of total)
1 Chad Sub-Saharan Africa 66.42
2 Central African Republic Sub-Saharan Africa 66.31
3 Niger Sub-Saharan Africa 65.71
4 Somalia, Fed. Rep. Sub-Saharan Africa 63.83
5 Nigeria Sub-Saharan Africa 63.70
6 Equatorial Guinea Sub-Saharan Africa 61.40
7 Mali Sub-Saharan Africa 60.59
8 South Sudan Sub-Saharan Africa 60.40
9 Mozambique Sub-Saharan Africa 59.72
10 Guinea-Bissau Sub-Saharan Africa 59.10

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Cause of death, by communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions (% of total).

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Biggest Movers — Year over Year

Largest increases

Largest decreases

By Income Group — Average

Income group Countries Mean
High income 58 17.35
Upper middle income 50 28.03
Lower middle income 50 36.74
Low income 25 49.64
Not classified 2 32.03

By Region — Average

Region Countries Mean
East Asia & Pacific 26 19.48
Europe & Central Asia 48 18.65
Latin America & Caribbean 32 29.86
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 23 25.13
North America 2 12.45
South Asia 6 24.66
Sub-Saharan Africa 48 50.86

Lowest Values — 2021

# Country Cause of death, by communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions (% of total)
1 Finland 2.56
2 China 3.20
3 Australia 4.19
4 Iceland 4.24
5 New Zealand 4.51
6 Norway 7.61
7 Canada 8.36
8 Denmark 9.08
9 Japan 9.94
10 Tonga 9.99
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Source: World Bank Open Data (SH.DTH.COMM.ZS), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2021.