Data for 1959

Infant Mortality Rate, 1959

Name: Infant Mortality Rate, 1959
Creator: UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)
License: https://data.unicef.org/

1959, as UN IGME’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

The infant mortality rate is how many children out of every thousand born alive die before their first birthday. Most child deaths happen in the first year, and many in the first month, so it is the part of child mortality most tied to care around birth — clean delivery, newborn care and vaccination.

Infant Mortality Rate, 1959 covers 129 countries on 3 measures. Yemen is highest, at 278.50; Sweden is lowest, at 16.56. The middle country reads 92.97. Against 1958, 125 values changed (5 up, 120 down), 4 countries joined.

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Infant Mortality Rate · Data for 1959

HighestYemen

278.50

LowestSweden

16.56

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end.

129countries
3measures per country
1959the year it describes
129distinct values13 decimals, as published
Sep 26, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 3.0 IGOlicence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Infant Mortality Rate, 1959, as published. UN IGME ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 129 countries · select a heading to sort

Infant Mortality Rate, 1959: every country, as published by UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
derived
1	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	278.50	234.64	329.63
2	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	255.81	213.32	307.80
3	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	247.59	186.85	329.40
4	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	221.33	193.50	253.55
5	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	214.83	184.77	250.01
6	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	206.50	169.43	252.88
7	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	197.92	152.10	263.92
8	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	197.42	174.08	225.42
9	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	191.11	164.82	222.63
10	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	183.61	166.85	202.68
11	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	183.54	158.21	212.22
12	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	181.70	165.07	201.46
13	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	176.71	158.92	195.85
14	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	173.78	155.61	193.08
15	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	172.90	149.57	197.83
16	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	172.74	147.49	202.29
17	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	166.82	146.56	190.38
18	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	162.52	139.62	189.14
19	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	161.36	124.81	213.49
20	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	161.06	146.68	178.59
21	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	159.14	137.09	183.51
22	Peru`PER`South America	158.92	144.57	174.61
23	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	158.30	133.90	186.31
24	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	152.91	135.88	173.45
25	India`IND`Southern Asia	152.45	138.27	167.29
26	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	150.80	138.15	164.43
27	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	150.56	136.82	166.51
28	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	147.82	133.97	162.87
29	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	146.05	127.74	166.74
30	Honduras`HND`Central America	145.71	127.70	164.96
31	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	142.63	125.47	161.82
32	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	141.20	124.71	159.86
33	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	138.74	126.63	151.01
34	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	138.21	118.49	162.07
35	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	137.56	120.61	157.84
36	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	135.88	118.10	157.13
37	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	135.22	123.90	148.26
38	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	135.00	114.34	158.42
39	Ecuador`ECU`South America	133.25	110.99	160.96
40	Brazil`BRA`South America	130.45	119.98	142.53
41	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	129.24	116.87	142.91
42	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	127.68	112.49	145.87
43	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	126.82	110.10	146.25
44	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	125.18	96.38	160.94
45	Chile`CHL`South America	124.44	121.69	127.18
46	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	123.11	109.55	138.12
47	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	121.88	107.91	138.00
48	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	121.81	108.65	136.78
49	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	120.52	98.77	147.47
50	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	117.87	107.28	129.64
51	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	116.95	106.59	128.35
52	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	115.99	106.66	126.56
53	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	115.13	98.63	134.14
54	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	114.75	96.39	141.72
55	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	114.10	85.84	148.40
56	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	111.18	99.65	122.91
57	Mexico`MEX`Central America	109.33	96.75	123.55
58	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	103.85	95.22	113.15
59	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	101.11	80.19	128.51
60	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	100.79	88.83	114.27
61	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	99.96	87.26	114.82
62	Colombia`COL`South America	99.33	89.35	110.27
63	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	98.29	83.33	115.87
64	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	93.33	84.56	102.40
65	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	92.97	72.67	115.79
66	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	91.53	87.14	96.28
67	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	91.37	77.82	106.75
68	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	85.70	84.04	87.43
69	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	84.65	66.30	108.39
70	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	82.56	64.65	104.69
71	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	81.61	71.90	92.43
72	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	80.12	67.01	96.40
73	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	78.92	76.36	81.54
74	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	77.73	69.30	87.14
75	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	76.12	74.11	78.23
76	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	74.98	65.03	86.35
77	Guyana`GUY`South America	74.74	62.92	88.91
78	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	73.72	72.36	75.08
79	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	73.15	63.92	83.99
80	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	72.85	65.75	80.93
81	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	69.11	67.34	70.95
82	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	68.27	59.37	80.35
83	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	67.75	55.21	81.79
84	Panama`PAN`Central America	66.51	58.53	74.41
85	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	65.21	61.68	69.06
86	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	65.17	55.20	77.44
87	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	64.57	57.78	71.63
88	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	64.35	60.77	68.19
89	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	64.16	55.49	74.42
90	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	64.08	55.39	74.13
91	Paraguay`PRY`South America	63.89	55.68	72.68
92	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	63.06	61.34	64.83
93	Venezuela`VEN`South America	60.32	52.68	69.58
94	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	59.75	58.61	60.91
95	Uruguay`URY`South America	57.23	56.03	58.45
96	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	50.59	49.42	51.76
97	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	50.23	47.05	53.72
98	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	48.59	47.64	49.58
99	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	45.90	40.29	52.38
100	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	45.60	44.70	46.52
101	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	41.22	36.90	46.14
102	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	40.15	37.92	42.46
103	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	39.39	38.61	40.23
104	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	39.17	38.36	40.01
105	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	38.91	34.99	43.18
106	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	38.29	37.45	39.14
107	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	37.56	36.27	38.92
108	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	36.27	32.31	40.39
109	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	33.31	31.29	35.46
110	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	33.17	31.22	35.23
111	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	32.81	32.20	33.45
112	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	31.72	31.07	32.39
113	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	31.20	30.60	31.76
114	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	30.94	27.88	34.40
115	Canada`CAN`Northern America	28.70	28.20	29.21
116	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	28.45	25.19	32.12
117	United States`USA`Northern America	26.41	25.98	26.85
118	France`FRA`Western Europe	25.18	24.69	25.67
119	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	23.35	22.91	23.80
120	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	23.26	22.83	23.71
121	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	23.23	22.80	23.73
122	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	22.19	21.75	22.62
123	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	21.85	21.41	22.29
124	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	21.83	20.43	23.29
125	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	20.78	20.39	21.19
126	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	18.96	18.57	19.36
127	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	17.58	16.60	18.65
128	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	16.95	16.66	17.24
129	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	16.56	16.24	16.89

02In 1959

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1Yemen278.50
2Afghanistan255.81
3Oman247.59
4Nepal221.33
5Côte d’Ivoire214.83

Lowest

129Sweden16.56
128Netherlands16.95
127Iceland17.58
126Norway18.96
125Australia20.78

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 92.97. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Lower bound (90% uncertainty)
HighestYemen234.64
LowestSweden16.24
Middle country: 83.33
Upper bound (90% uncertainty)
HighestYemen329.63
LowestSweden16.89
Middle country: 108.39

031958 → 1959

Since 1958

What changed between 1958 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+4 / −0countries joined / left
125values changed, of 125 in both
5 · 120rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Liberia196.31 → 197.42+1.12
Chile123.54 → 124.44+0.90
Uruguay56.96 → 57.23+0.27
Cuba36.02 → 36.27+0.25
Dominican Republic103.66 → 103.85+0.19

Fell most

Bahrain186.51 → 172.74−13.76
Libya219.28 → 206.50−12.79
Montserrat108.60 → 99.96−8.64
Iraq154.62 → 146.05−8.56
Barbados83.37 → 76.12−7.25

+ Central African Republic

+ Kuwait

+ Marshall Islands

+ Oman

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2025 release
Every year in this series comes from UN IGME’s 2025 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1959.
The position is ours
UN IGME publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 129 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
129 rows · 9.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download infant-mortality-1959-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
UN IGME’s own file, on its own site.
.CME_MRY0._T._T

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) (1959). Infant Mortality Rate, 1959 [data set], describing 1959. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/infant-mortality/1959

0672 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Infant Mortality Rate, 1958
125 countries
The year after ›
Infant Mortality Rate, 1960
133 countries
All of them
Infant Mortality Rate: every year
72 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
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