Lao PDR - Mortality rate, under-5, female (per 1,000 live births)

The value for Mortality rate, under-5, female (per 1,000 live births) in Lao PDR was 39.40 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 42 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 207.90 in 1978 and a minimum value of 39.40 in 2020.

Definition: Under-five mortality rate, female is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn female baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to female age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.

Source: Estimates Developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.

See also:

Year Value
1978 207.90
1979 201.80
1980 196.20
1981 190.80
1982 185.40
1983 180.20
1984 175.20
1985 170.10
1986 165.20
1987 160.20
1988 155.20
1989 150.00
1990 144.90
1991 139.80
1992 134.70
1993 129.70
1994 124.90
1995 120.30
1996 115.90
1997 111.60
1998 107.40
1999 103.20
2000 99.10
2001 95.10
2002 91.10
2003 87.20
2004 83.40
2005 79.60
2006 75.90
2007 72.30
2008 68.80
2009 65.40
2010 62.10
2011 59.00
2012 56.10
2013 53.40
2014 50.80
2015 48.40
2016 46.30
2017 44.40
2018 42.60
2019 41.00
2020 39.40

Development Relevance: Mortality rates for different age groups (infants, children, and adults) and overall mortality indicators (life expectancy at birth or survival to a given age) are important indicators of health status in a country. Because data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. And they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries.

Limitations and Exceptions: Complete vital registration systems are fairly uncommon in developing countries. Thus estimates must be obtained from sample surveys or derived by applying indirect estimation techniques to registration, census, or survey data. Survey data are subject to recall error, and surveys estimating infant/child deaths require large samples because households in which a birth has occurred during a given year cannot ordinarily be preselected for sampling. Indirect estimates rely on model life tables that may be inappropriate for the population concerned. Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The main sources of mortality data are vital registration systems and direct or indirect estimates based on sample surveys or censuses. A "complete" vital registration system - covering at least 90 percent of vital events in the population - is the best source of age-specific mortality data. Estimates of neonatal, infant, and child mortality tend to vary by source and method for a given time and place. Years for available estimates also vary by country, making comparisons across countries and over time difficult. To make neonatal, infant, and child mortality estimates comparable and to ensure consistency across estimates by different agencies, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), which comprises the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the United Nations Population Division, and other universities and research institutes, developed and adopted a statistical method that uses all available information to reconcile differences. The method uses statistical models to obtain a best estimate trend line by fitting a country-specific regression model of mortality rates against their reference dates.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development ac

Classification

Topic: Health Indicators

Sub-Topic: Mortality