Data for 1981

Under-Five Mortality Rate, 1981

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

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

Under-Five Mortality Rate, 1981 covers 185 countries on 3 measures. Niger is highest, at 324.486; Sweden is lowest, at 8.203. The middle country reads 63.606. Against 1980, 182 values changed (5 up, 177 down), 3 countries joined.

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Under-Five Mortality Rate · Data for 1981

HighestNiger

324.486

LowestSweden

8.203

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

185countries
3measures per country
1981the year it describes
185distinct values14 decimals, as published
Sep 9, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 3.0 IGOlicence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Under-Five 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 185 countries · select a heading to sort

Under-Five Mortality Rate, 1981: every country, as published by UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).
derived
1	Niger`NER`Western Africa	324.486	298.34	352.41
2	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	309.415	275.89	347.64
3	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	296.507	275.66	319.29
4	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	282.591	223.58	355.33
5	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	282.581	255.47	311.72
6	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	276.257	253.12	300.35
7	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	250.171	232.98	269.31
8	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	245.907	226.28	267.57
9	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	244.046	219.81	270.40
10	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	239.186	218.96	261.61
11	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	239.011	213.75	270.83
12	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	236.595	215.17	261.58
13	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	230.891	214.05	249.65
14	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	228.804	178.64	291.71
15	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	223.868	198.17	257.12
16	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	218.870	202.06	237.45
17	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	213.443	190.79	238.83
18	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	209.724	191.70	228.83
19	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	207.144	193.24	222.25
20	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	203.196	174.54	235.70
21	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	202.000	187.82	217.74
22	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	201.757	193.44	210.25
23	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	201.367	186.88	216.98
24	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	197.629	186.59	208.83
25	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	196.644	182.39	212.44
26	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	195.409	172.22	221.11
27	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	192.491	170.66	216.74
28	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	187.635	157.10	224.87
29	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	187.284	165.38	211.36
30	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	185.490	171.56	201.22
31	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	179.007	166.28	192.10
32	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	175.207	159.64	191.61
33	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	174.919	160.10	191.53
34	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	167.584	147.92	191.29
35	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	166.554	157.18	176.44
36	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	165.472	152.07	180.52
37	India`IND`Southern Asia	164.639	158.38	171.04
38	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	163.614	155.33	172.63
39	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	161.292	147.79	176.10
40	Bolivia`BOL`South America	160.758	151.39	170.77
41	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	159.996	151.53	168.73
42	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	159.141	143.13	177.09
43	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	155.589	144.03	167.86
44	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	154.855	130.94	181.13
45	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	146.873	121.95	177.47
46	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	146.618	136.14	157.91
47	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	143.127	127.96	159.30
48	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	140.287	137.15	143.50
49	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	135.893	119.38	154.59
50	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	128.240	119.73	137.40
51	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	125.065	107.41	145.99
52	Peru`PER`South America	124.057	117.34	131.37
53	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	121.858	113.65	130.29
54	Kiribati`KIR`Micronesia	117.160	102.33	134.22
55	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	117.158	109.23	125.77
56	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	116.594	110.70	123.07
57	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	116.396	103.14	131.24
58	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	115.806	105.47	127.11
59	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	112.081	92.76	136.54
60	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	109.077	91.26	131.85
61	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	107.761	92.73	126.68
62	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	107.681	91.41	126.62
63	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	105.968	98.75	113.81
64	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	104.415	85.04	130.72
65	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	102.739	90.87	114.51
66	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	102.169	89.01	117.74
67	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	101.378	91.32	113.29
68	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	101.100	89.19	114.71
69	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	101.048	91.30	112.04
70	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	100.680	91.62	110.58
71	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	96.824	80.29	119.76
72	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	92.820	78.87	108.65
73	Brazil`BRA`South America	91.489	84.98	98.43
74	Honduras`HND`Central America	90.666	83.34	99.11
75	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	89.853	80.57	99.77
76	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	88.497	76.69	101.84
77	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	86.823	70.64	111.64
78	Ecuador`ECU`South America	86.474	78.36	95.30
79	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	83.622	78.17	89.45
80	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	78.088	71.94	84.50
81	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	77.075	74.30	79.91
82	Palestine`PSE`Western Asia	75.316	67.52	84.10
83	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	74.968	56.91	96.60
84	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	72.906	64.21	82.81
85	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	70.616	61.66	80.52
86	Guyana`GUY`South America	70.289	61.22	81.32
87	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	69.793	63.20	76.81
88	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	69.041	59.10	80.37
89	Mexico`MEX`Central America	68.531	63.21	74.57
90	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	68.245	62.38	74.70
91	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	68.101	60.77	76.75
92	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	68.054	56.83	81.50
93	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	63.606	51.70	78.45
94	Belize`BLZ`Central America	63.483	53.27	75.72
95	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	63.381	57.49	69.68
96	Paraguay`PRY`South America	63.192	57.44	69.78
97	Marshall Islands`MHL`Micronesia	62.987	54.09	73.21
98	Tuvalu`TUV`Polynesia	62.651	51.38	76.29
99	Micronesia`FSM`Micronesia	59.937	48.75	73.68
100	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	59.875	52.61	68.05
101	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	58.040	54.32	62.13
102	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	56.883	46.63	69.05
103	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	56.763	51.23	62.56
104	Colombia`COL`South America	55.260	51.48	59.28
105	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	52.679	49.10	56.57
106	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	51.066	42.24	60.87
107	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines`VCT`Caribbean	48.219	45.94	50.64
108	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	48.167	39.56	58.32
109	Saint Kitts and Nevis`KNA`Caribbean	48.003	44.63	51.65
110	Palau`PLW`Micronesia	44.329	34.88	56.52
111	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	42.949	42.04	43.87
112	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	42.325	36.00	49.68
113	Venezuela`VEN`South America	42.321	38.70	46.56
114	Panama`PAN`Central America	42.178	37.31	47.77
115	Samoa`WSM`Polynesia	41.689	34.93	49.79
116	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	40.546	31.75	51.91
117	Argentina`ARG`South America	39.440	38.69	40.22
118	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	39.039	33.70	44.61
119	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	37.397	36.23	38.57
120	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	36.199	29.59	44.31
121	Uruguay`URY`South America	35.930	35.20	36.67
122	Turks and Caicos Islands`TCA`Caribbean	34.778	26.17	46.84
123	Grenada`GRD`Caribbean	34.656	30.50	39.05
124	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	34.424	33.55	35.32
125	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	34.398	28.86	41.08
126	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	33.986	32.05	35.88
127	British Virgin Islands`VGB`Caribbean	33.594	28.47	39.49
128	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	32.949	32.34	33.58
129	Montserrat`MSR`Caribbean	31.730	25.43	39.34
130	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	30.993	29.72	32.30
131	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	30.665	26.83	35.15
132	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	29.990	28.80	31.26
133	Chile`CHL`South America	29.860	29.18	30.58
134	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	29.076	27.61	30.61
135	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	28.637	23.66	34.74
136	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	28.362	26.56	30.23
137	Cook Islands`COK`Polynesia	28.196	23.86	33.41
138	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	27.375	25.33	29.56
139	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	26.951	26.41	27.50
140	Niue`NIU`Polynesia	26.872	22.22	32.24
141	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	25.785	25.28	26.32
142	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	25.540	24.17	27.00
143	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	25.382	21.40	31.03
144	Dominica`DMA`Caribbean	24.479	23.19	25.84
145	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	23.354	22.93	23.79
146	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	23.289	22.83	23.77
147	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	22.954	22.46	23.44
148	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	22.563	22.05	23.08
149	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	21.877	20.51	23.03
150	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	21.726	21.00	22.47
151	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	21.199	20.40	22.02
152	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	21.064	18.65	23.69
153	Brunei`BRN`South-eastern Asia	20.944	19.25	22.75
154	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	20.776	20.12	21.45
155	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	20.040	19.51	20.60
156	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	19.826	19.27	20.37
157	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	19.627	18.63	20.67
158	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	18.258	17.88	18.64
159	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	17.769	16.26	19.13
160	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	17.371	17.03	17.70
161	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	16.228	15.31	17.21
162	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	15.959	15.36	16.60
163	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	15.488	15.16	15.83
164	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	15.213	14.83	15.58
165	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	15.177	14.89	15.48
166	Antigua and Barbuda`ATG`Caribbean	15.020	13.32	16.94
167	United States`USA`Northern America	14.385	14.14	14.62
168	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	14.063	13.80	14.33
169	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	14.009	13.52	14.53
170	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	13.885	13.64	14.15
171	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	13.848	13.58	14.12
172	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	13.376	13.12	13.64
173	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	13.190	12.83	13.56
174	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	12.931	12.02	13.87
175	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	12.546	12.31	12.78
176	France`FRA`Western Europe	11.916	11.70	12.14
177	Canada`CAN`Northern America	11.799	11.59	12.00
178	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	10.609	10.41	10.79
179	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	9.997	9.74	10.26
180	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	9.902	9.55	10.24
181	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	9.747	9.45	10.06
182	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	9.344	9.17	9.52
183	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	9.170	8.45	9.99
184	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	8.210	7.95	8.46
185	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	8.203	7.98	8.43

02In 1981

At either end

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

Highest

1Niger324.486
2Mozambique309.415
3Mali296.507
4South Sudan282.591
5Sierra Leone282.581

Lowest

185Sweden8.203
184Finland8.210
183Iceland9.170
182Japan9.344
181Denmark9.747

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 63.606. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Lower bound (90% uncertainty)
HighestNiger298.34
LowestFinland7.95
Middle country: 56.91
Upper bound (90% uncertainty)
HighestSouth Sudan355.33
LowestSweden8.43
Middle country: 75.72

031980 → 1981

Since 1980

What changed between 1980 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+3 / −0countries joined / left
182values changed, of 182 in both
5 · 177rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Mozambique262.204 → 309.415+47.211
Syria60.142 → 63.381+3.239
São Tomé and Príncipe91.474 → 92.820+1.346
Madagascar245.200 → 245.907+0.707
Zambia154.949 → 155.589+0.640

Fell most

El Salvador127.467 → 101.378−26.089
Cambodia181.464 → 159.141−22.323
Rwanda218.964 → 202.000−16.964
Algeria155.573 → 140.287−15.286
Yemen209.394 → 196.644−12.750

+ Croatia

+ North Macedonia

+ Slovenia

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 1981.
The position is ours
UN IGME publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 185 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
185 rows · 13 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download under-five-mortality-1981-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
UN IGME’s own file, on its own site.
.CME_MRY0T4._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) (1981). Under-Five Mortality Rate, 1981 [data set], describing 1981. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/under-five-mortality/1981

0673 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Under-Five Mortality Rate, 1980
182 countries
The year after ›
Under-Five Mortality Rate, 1982
188 countries
All of them
Under-Five Mortality Rate: every year
73 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions