Data for 1981

Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1981

Name: Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1981
Creator: UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)
License: https://data.unicef.org/open-data/

1981, as UN IGME’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

The neonatal mortality rate is how many babies out of every thousand born alive die in their first 28 days. Most deaths in the first year of life happen in this first month, which makes it the measure most directly tied to care at birth — a skilled attendant, a clean delivery, warmth, and help with breathing and infection.

Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1981 covers 128 countries on 3 measures. Bangladesh is highest, at 87.490; Japan is lowest, at 4.581. The middle country reads 26.277. Against 1980, 127 values changed (5 up, 122 down), 1 country joined.

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Neonatal Mortality Rate · Data for 1981

HighestBangladesh

87.490

LowestJapan

4.581

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

128countries
3measures per country
1981the year it describes
128distinct values14 decimals, as published
Sep 29, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 3.0 IGOlicence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1981, 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 128 countries · select a heading to sort

Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1981: every country, as published by UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
derived
1	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	87.490	81.725	93.746
2	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	81.675	72.755	91.106
3	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	73.890	64.671	84.772
4	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	73.749	67.248	81.387
5	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	71.639	61.782	83.061
6	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	71.160	58.747	87.370
7	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	70.775	65.158	76.644
8	India`IND`Southern Asia	70.505	66.206	75.299
9	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	67.031	59.449	75.490
10	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	64.507	55.119	75.398
11	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	59.286	52.023	68.335
12	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	58.268	51.160	66.213
13	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	57.294	51.809	63.480
14	Niger`NER`Western Africa	57.165	49.947	65.403
15	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	56.478	49.658	64.269
16	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	55.749	49.720	62.377
17	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	55.602	50.048	62.090
18	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	55.264	49.250	61.939
19	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	55.032	43.074	70.050
20	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	53.637	47.540	60.815
21	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	53.320	45.247	62.752
22	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	52.383	46.298	59.139
23	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	51.782	45.630	58.536
24	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	51.047	46.797	55.684
25	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	51.040	46.450	55.946
26	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	50.783	44.984	57.404
27	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	50.583	45.338	56.289
28	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	49.527	43.263	56.615
29	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	48.813	43.036	55.339
30	Bolivia`BOL`South America	48.537	44.137	53.259
31	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	47.513	42.864	52.443
32	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	46.295	41.786	51.048
33	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	44.854	40.079	50.141
34	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	44.639	39.542	50.176
35	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	44.538	38.324	51.816
36	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	43.921	39.227	49.144
37	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	42.840	38.299	47.520
38	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	42.405	35.808	50.234
39	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	42.054	35.175	49.828
40	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	40.560	36.275	45.336
41	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	37.247	33.437	41.294
42	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	37.239	34.353	40.317
43	Peru`PER`South America	36.910	33.714	40.412
44	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	35.723	30.157	41.484
45	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	34.547	30.803	38.515
46	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	34.444	30.175	39.305
47	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	34.262	29.713	39.369
48	Brazil`BRA`South America	33.900	29.850	38.338
49	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	32.920	26.575	40.731
50	Ecuador`ECU`South America	32.911	28.432	38.084
51	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	32.652	27.420	38.846
52	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	32.536	29.253	36.106
53	Guyana`GUY`South America	32.014	25.727	38.488
54	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	31.614	28.469	35.135
55	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	30.321	24.190	37.501
56	Honduras`HND`Central America	30.275	26.404	34.687
57	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	30.271	26.464	34.609
58	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	29.949	24.621	36.166
59	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	29.601	26.064	33.077
60	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	29.568	25.642	34.298
61	Mexico`MEX`Central America	29.045	25.329	33.175
62	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	28.344	21.670	36.885
63	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	27.906	22.665	34.250
64	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	26.289	22.663	29.903
65	Belize`BLZ`Central America	26.264	21.034	32.555
66	Paraguay`PRY`South America	25.875	21.719	29.897
67	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	25.810	20.923	31.807
68	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	25.647	21.795	29.658
69	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	25.243	22.834	27.921
70	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	25.067	20.289	30.256
71	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	24.156	21.553	27.120
72	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	24.133	20.446	28.486
73	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	23.819	20.478	27.430
74	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	23.663	18.811	29.646
75	Colombia`COL`South America	22.943	20.748	25.180
76	Panama`PAN`Central America	21.853	14.233	29.967
77	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	21.121	16.829	26.604
78	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	21.002	20.208	21.806
79	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	20.796	17.772	24.274
80	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	20.026	16.733	23.693
81	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	19.737	12.682	30.029
82	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	19.177	17.169	21.391
83	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	19.121	18.194	20.067
84	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	18.690	17.225	20.200
85	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	17.797	16.344	19.285
86	Argentina`ARG`South America	17.000	16.407	17.593
87	Uruguay`URY`South America	16.723	13.182	20.172
88	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	16.402	14.075	19.269
89	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	16.384	15.155	17.664
90	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	16.168	14.907	17.484
91	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	16.012	15.529	16.504
92	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	14.362	13.866	14.864
93	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	13.762	12.321	15.228
94	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	13.723	13.342	14.099
95	Chile`CHL`South America	13.680	13.213	14.171
96	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	13.344	11.789	15.037
97	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	13.085	10.439	16.233
98	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	12.569	12.223	12.923
99	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	11.565	9.647	13.654
100	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	11.293	10.734	11.836
101	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	11.001	10.249	11.842
102	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	10.487	10.225	10.748
103	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	10.063	9.692	10.447
104	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	9.436	9.075	9.811
105	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	8.653	8.391	8.931
106	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	8.354	8.050	8.648
107	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	8.215	7.003	9.597
108	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	8.142	7.736	8.579
109	United States`USA`Northern America	8.038	7.837	8.233
110	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	7.352	6.836	7.882
111	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	7.279	6.744	7.840
112	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	7.180	6.934	7.436
113	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	6.888	6.694	7.085
114	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	6.777	6.470	7.086
115	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	6.669	6.437	6.908
116	Canada`CAN`Northern America	6.299	6.112	6.485
117	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	6.033	5.150	6.862
118	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	5.920	5.604	6.237
119	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	5.507	5.322	5.692
120	France`FRA`Western Europe	5.406	5.191	5.632
121	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	5.227	5.005	5.458
122	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	5.122	4.590	5.726
123	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	5.092	4.832	5.365
124	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	4.949	4.764	5.134
125	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	4.827	4.568	5.094
126	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	4.796	4.576	5.018
127	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	4.735	4.542	4.932
128	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	4.581	4.454	4.716

02In 1981

At either end

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

Highest

1Bangladesh87.490
2Mali81.675
3Guinea73.890
4Nepal73.749
5Liberia71.639

Lowest

128Japan4.581
127Sweden4.735
126Finland4.796
125Norway4.827
124Germany4.949

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 26.277. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Lower bound (90% uncertainty)
HighestBangladesh81.725
LowestJapan4.454
Middle country: 22.229
Upper bound (90% uncertainty)
HighestBangladesh93.746
LowestJapan4.716
Middle country: 32.181

031980 → 1981

Since 1980

+1 / −0countries joined / left
127values changed, of 127 in both
5 · 122rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Mozambique63.703 → 64.507+0.805
Guinea73.268 → 73.890+0.622
Madagascar40.067 → 40.560+0.494
Zambia34.388 → 34.547+0.159
Tanzania43.794 → 43.921+0.127

Fell most

Mali84.806 → 81.675−3.132
Cambodia52.487 → 49.527−2.961
Algeria47.496 → 44.639−2.857
Rwanda58.286 → 55.602−2.684
Oman35.432 → 32.920−2.512

+ Lithuania

04Caveats

Read before you use

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, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1981.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 128 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

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.csv
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128 rows · 9.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download neonatal-mortality-1981-nations-inquiry.csv
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The publisher’s original
UN IGME’s own file, on its own site.
.CME_MRM0._T._T

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

UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) (1981). Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1981 [data set], describing 1981. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/neonatal-mortality/1981

0656 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1980
127 countries
The year after ›
Neonatal Mortality Rate, 1982
136 countries
All of them
Neonatal Mortality Rate: every year
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