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Health & Population

Mortality rate, neonatal (per 1,000 live births)

Neonatal mortality rate is the number of neonates dying before reaching 28 days of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

World Bank code: SH.DYN.NMRT • Data available for 196 countries • Latest year: 2024

In , South Sudan led Mortality rate, neonatal (per 1,000 live births) at 39.50.

The world median across 196 reporting countries was 8.25.

What this measures: Neonatal mortality rate is the number of neonates dying before reaching 28 days of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

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 — 2024

Reporting
196 countries
Median
8.25
Mean
11.40
25th percentile
3.60
75th percentile
18.10
Range
0.50 – 39.50

World at a Glance — 2024

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

East Asia & PacificAustralia: 2.30AUBrunei Darussalam: 5.70BNCambodia: 9.50KHChina: 2.60CNFiji: 15.00FJIndonesia: 9.20IDJapan: 0.90JPKiribati: 21.70KIKorea, Dem. People's Rep.: 8.90KPKorea, Rep.: 1.20KRLao PDR: 13.10LAMalaysia: 4.30MYMarshall Islands: 12.50MHMicronesia, Fed. Sts.: 11.60FMMongolia: 7.20MNMyanmar: 19.60MMNauru: 4.50NRNew Zealand: 2.70NZPalau: 11.20PWPapua New Guinea: 20.10PGPhilippines: 13.60PHSamoa: 5.80WSSingapore: 1.10SGSolomon Islands: 8.00SBThailand: 5.10THTimor-Leste: 21.60TLTonga: 4.10TOTuvalu: 8.70TVVanuatu: 9.00VUViet Nam: 8.80VNEurope & Central AsiaAlbania: 6.70ALAndorra: 1.20ADArmenia: 5.10AMAustria: 2.20ATAzerbaijan: 12.40AZBelarus: 0.70BYBelgium: 2.20BEBosnia and Herzegovina: 4.40BABulgaria: 2.60BGCroatia: 2.80HRCyprus: 2.70CYCzechia: 1.40CZDenmark: 2.70DKEstonia: 0.90EEFinland: 1.40FIFrance: 2.80FRGeorgia: 5.00GEGermany: 2.30DEGreece: 2.20GRHungary: 2.10HUIceland: 1.40ISIreland: 2.60IEItaly: 1.80ITKazakhstan: 3.90KZKosovo: 6.60XKKyrgyz Republic: 10.80KGLatvia: 1.20LVLithuania: 1.90LTLuxembourg: 1.50LUMoldova: 12.30MDMonaco: 1.40MCMontenegro: 0.80MENetherlands: 2.60NLNorth Macedonia: 1.10MKNorway: 1.40NOPoland: 2.50PLPortugal: 1.70PTRomania: 3.60RORussian Federation: 2.00RUSan Marino: 0.50SMSerbia: 3.00RSSlovak Republic: 3.30SKSlovenia: 1.30SISpain: 1.70ESSweden: 1.40SESwitzerland: 2.80CHTajikistan: 11.10TJTurkiye: 4.60TRTurkmenistan: 22.30TMUkraine: 4.50UAUnited Kingdom: 3.00GBUzbekistan: 7.70UZLatin America & CaribbeanAntigua and Barbuda: 5.20AGArgentina: 5.10ARBahamas, The: 9.00BSBarbados: 6.60BBBelize: 9.20BZBolivia: 7.30BOBrazil: 7.10BRBritish Virgin Islands: 6.40VGChile: 4.70CLColombia: 6.30COCosta Rica: 7.30CRCuba: 4.30CUDominica: 31.10DMDominican Republic: 21.20DOEcuador: 7.00ECEl Salvador: 4.30SVGrenada: 12.30GDGuatemala: 9.50GTGuyana: 15.30GYHaiti: 22.60HTHonduras: 8.40HNJamaica: 13.70JMMexico: 8.20MXNicaragua: 5.30NIPanama: 5.30PAParaguay: 8.60PYPeru: 6.50PESt. Kitts and Nevis: 10.00KNSt. Lucia: 11.30LCSt. Vincent and the Grenadines: 9.00VCSuriname: 9.70SRTrinidad and Tobago: 12.60TTTurks and Caicos Islands: 2.40TCUruguay: 4.00UYVenezuela, RB: 15.00VEMiddle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & PakistanAfghanistan: 33.10AFAlgeria: 15.00DZBahrain: 4.40BHDjibouti: 27.10DJEgypt, Arab Rep.: 13.90EGIran, Islamic Rep.: 7.20IRIraq: 12.50IQIsrael: 1.70ILJordan: 7.40JOKuwait: 4.40KWLebanon: 10.50LBLibya: 5.20LYMalta: 3.60MTMorocco: 9.60MAOman: 5.80OMPakistan: 36.10PKQatar: 3.80QASaudi Arabia: 2.90SASyrian Arab Republic: 9.50SYTunisia: 7.70TNUnited Arab Emirates: 2.40AEWest Bank and Gaza: 8.90PSYemen, Rep.: 20.90YENorth AmericaCanada: 3.40CAUnited States: 3.70USSouth AsiaBangladesh: 17.90BDBhutan: 7.30BTIndia: 16.70INMaldives: 3.70MVNepal: 15.30NPSri Lanka: 4.00LKSub-Saharan AfricaAngola: 18.10AOBenin: 27.20BJBotswana: 17.60BWBurkina Faso: 23.80BFBurundi: 19.10BICabo Verde: 8.00CVCameroon: 24.80CMCentral African Republic: 29.90CFChad: 30.40TDComoros: 22.10KMCongo, Dem. Rep.: 23.60CDCongo, Rep.: 16.50CGCote d'Ivoire: 27.40CIEquatorial Guinea: 26.30GQEritrea: 15.60EREswatini: 25.00SZEthiopia: 25.20ETGabon: 16.30GAGambia, The: 23.00GMGhana: 18.10GHGuinea: 29.80GNGuinea-Bissau: 32.00GWKenya: 20.70KELesotho: 28.50LSLiberia: 32.90LRMadagascar: 23.10MGMalawi: 23.60MWMali: 28.00MLMauritania: 20.80MRMauritius: 9.60MUMozambique: 25.10MZNamibia: 21.40NANiger: 32.80NENigeria: 39.00NGRwanda: 17.40RWSao Tome and Principe: 6.40STSenegal: 20.90SNSeychelles: 8.30SCSierra Leone: 28.30SLSomalia, Fed. Rep.: 34.20SOSouth Africa: 12.40ZASouth Sudan: 39.50SSSudan: 23.70SDTanzania: 19.90TZTogo: 22.60TGUganda: 21.30UGZambia: 21.40ZMZimbabwe: 33.70ZW

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

Highest Values — 2024

# Country Mortality rate, neonatal (per 1,000 live births)
1 South Sudan Sub-Saharan Africa 39.50
2 Nigeria Sub-Saharan Africa 39.00
3 Pakistan Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 36.10
4 Somalia, Fed. Rep. Sub-Saharan Africa 34.20
5 Zimbabwe Sub-Saharan Africa 33.70
6 Afghanistan Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 33.10
7 Liberia Sub-Saharan Africa 32.90
8 Niger Sub-Saharan Africa 32.80
9 Guinea-Bissau Sub-Saharan Africa 32.00
10 Dominica Latin America & Caribbean 31.10

Looking for a specific country? Only the top and bottom 10 appear here. See where every country ranks for Mortality rate, neonatal (per 1,000 live births).

View complete rankings →

Biggest Movers — Year over Year

Largest increases

Largest decreases

By Income Group — Average

Income group Countries Mean
High income 65 3.57
Upper middle income 54 9.00
Lower middle income 50 17.08
Low income 25 24.89
Not classified 2 20.10

By Region — Average

Region Countries Mean
East Asia & Pacific 30 8.99
Europe & Central Asia 52 3.69
Latin America & Caribbean 35 9.48
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan 23 11.03
North America 2 3.55
South Asia 6 10.82
Sub-Saharan Africa 48 23.24

Lowest Values — 2024

# Country Mortality rate, neonatal (per 1,000 live births)
1 San Marino 0.50
2 Belarus 0.70
3 Montenegro 0.80
4 Japan 0.90
5 Estonia 0.90
6 North Macedonia 1.10
7 Singapore 1.10
8 Latvia 1.20
9 Andorra 1.20
10 Korea, Rep. 1.20
Download full dataset: CSV JSON

Source: World Bank Open Data (SH.DYN.NMRT), CC BY 4.0. Rankings show countries with available data for 2024.