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Data for 2020

Low Birthweight Prevalence, 2020

2020, as UNICEF and WHO (Joint Low Birthweight Estimates)’s 2023 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Low birthweight is the share of babies born weighing less than 2,500 grams. It reflects the health and nutrition of mothers during pregnancy, and it is one of the strongest predictors of whether a newborn survives its first month.

Low Birthweight Prevalence, 2020 covers 158 countries on 3 measures. India is highest, at 27.4353; Iceland is lowest, at 3.9928. The middle country reads 10.2123. Against 2019, 158 values changed (71 up, 87 down), the same countries are covered.

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Low Birthweight Prevalence · Data for 2020

HighestIndia

27.4353

LowestIceland

3.9928

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

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Low Birthweight Prevalence, 2020, as published. UNICEF and WHO (Joint Low Birthweight Estimates) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 158 countries · select a heading to sort

Low Birthweight Prevalence, 2020: every country, as published by UNICEF and WHO (Joint Low Birthweight Estimates).
derived
1IndiaINDSouthern Asia27.435325.44829.545
2BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia23.046720.77425.501
3ComorosCOMEastern Africa23.027219.31727.268
4PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia21.144117.50225.393
5LiberiaLBRWestern Africa19.881317.41922.632
6NepalNPLSouthern Asia19.731517.65622.015
7Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa19.548917.30421.984
8Papua New GuineaPNGMelanesia19.380316.76922.228
9JordanJORWestern Asia18.936717.14020.837
10MadagascarMDGEastern Africa18.712116.74520.804
11MauritiusMUSEastern Africa18.694413.06926.124
12Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa18.468715.58721.662
13Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa18.289816.15620.658
14Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia18.212015.34421.372
15Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia17.978315.87620.268
16MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa17.760215.12520.710
17SenegalSENWestern Africa17.249415.82718.787
18GuyanaGUYSouth America17.163114.94619.731
19BotswanaBWASouthern Africa16.834410.92125.177
20LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia16.732314.87018.872
21South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa16.638414.20019.352
22SurinameSURSouth America16.464515.19317.763
23BeninBENWestern Africa16.445814.83818.172
24Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa16.354714.49318.411
25Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean16.274112.13621.644

02In 2020

At either end

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

Highest

  1. 1India27.4353
  2. 2Bangladesh23.0467
  3. 3Comoros23.0272
  4. 4Philippines21.1441
  5. 5Liberia19.8813

Lowest

  1. 158Iceland3.9928
  2. 157Finland4.0692
  3. 156Sweden4.1218
  4. 155Estonia4.1737
  5. 154Latvia4.2326

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 10.2123. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

  • Lower bound (95% credible interval)

    HighestIndia25.448

    LowestSan Marino3.490

    Middle country: 8.743

  • Upper bound (95% credible interval)

    HighestIndia29.545

    LowestFinland4.191

    Middle country: 11.722

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 158values changed, of 158 in both
  • 71 · 87rose · fell
  • 0unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

04Caveats

Read before you use

How values are stored

  • One year of the 2023 release

    Every year in this series comes from UNICEF and WHO (Joint Low Birthweight Estimates)’s 2023 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 2020.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 158 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

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

Cite this edition

UNICEF and WHO (Joint Low Birthweight Estimates) (2020). Low Birthweight Prevalence, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/low-birthweight/2020

0621 held

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