Countries by Low-birthweight babies (% of births)
India ranks first with 27.43% of births producing low-birthweight babies, the highest share among 157 countries measured in 2020. At the other end, Iceland records just 3.99%, giving a spread of more than 23 percentage points between the top and bottom of the ranking. Because higher values indicate a greater proportion of underweight newborns, a high rank here signals a more acute burden, not a better outcome.
Ranking 2020
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures the percentage of newborns weighing less than 2,500 grams at birth. Per the source definition, low-birthweight babies are newborns weighing less than 2,500 grams, with the measurement taken within the first hour of life, before significant postnatal weight loss has occurred. The unit is percentage of total births. Data come from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.BRTW.ZS, for the reference year 2020. The dataset covers 157 countries, all with data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality. Ten extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold. The value range runs from 3.99% to 27.44%, a spread of 587%.
The top of the ranking is dominated by South and Southeast Asian and sub-Saharan African countries. India leads at rank 1 with 27.43%, followed by Bangladesh at rank 2 with 23.05% and Comoros at rank 3 with 23.03%. The Philippines ranks 4th at 21.14%, and Liberia ranks 5th at 19.88%. Nepal (rank 6, 19.73%), Guinea-Bissau (rank 7, 19.55%), and Papua New Guinea (rank 8, 19.38%) round out the upper tier. These countries share a pattern of high values concentrated in regions where nutritional and maternal health pressures are documented in the data, though the dataset itself does not explain causes.
A notable anomaly appears in the middle rankings: Japan (rank 66, 11.30%) and Greece (rank 64, 11.41%) place alongside sub-Saharan African countries such as Zambia (rank 67, 11.25%) and Zimbabwe (rank 60, 11.83%), despite being high-income economies. Singapore ranks 71st at 10.95%, close to Iraq at rank 72 with 10.86%. In the lower half, China ranks 146th at 4.97%, well below neighboring countries such as Viet Nam (rank 129, 6.31%) and Mongolia (rank 147, 4.90%). The Nordic countries occupy the bottom of the ranking: Sweden ranks 155th at 4.12%, Finland 156th at 4.07%, and Iceland 157th at 3.99%.
Several limitations apply to this metric. Birthweight measurement quality depends on whether births occur in facilities with functioning weighing equipment; home births in rural areas may go unweighed or be estimated. Countries with high rates of unattended or unregistered births may underreport low-birthweight cases, which could cause their true values to differ from ranked figures. Differences in recording practices, including the timing of the first measurement, can introduce inconsistency across countries even when all data are classified as official. The metric counts the share of births rather than absolute numbers, so large-population countries such as India and China are compared on the same scale as small ones. The data reflect a single reference year, 2020, and year-over-year volatility for this indicator is low at an average 0.5% change, suggesting rankings are relatively stable but may not capture short-term shifts.
Methodology
Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.BRTW.ZS, for the reference year 2020. The metric is defined as follows: low-birthweight babies are newborns weighing less than 2,500 grams, with the measurement taken within the first hour of life, before significant postnatal weight loss has occurred. Values are expressed as a percentage of total births. The dataset covers 157 countries, exceeding the 80-country coverage threshold. All 157 countries (100%) have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official quality, above the 70% threshold. Ten extreme outliers were detected at the 3-standard-deviation level. The value range spans 3.99% to 27.44%, a 587.1% spread. Average year-over-year change is 0.5%, indicating low volatility. No microstates under 1 million population are included in the 157-country set.