Countries by Mortality rate, adult, female (per 1,000 female adults)

Ranking 2023

Analysis

This metric tracks the probability that a 15-year-old female will die before reaching age 60, expressed per 1,000 female adults. The World Bank defines it precisely: adult mortality rate, female, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 — that is, the probability of a 15-year-old female dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages. The indicator code is SP.DYN.AMRT.FE, drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators for 2023. It does not capture infant or child mortality below age 15, nor mortality above age 60. Coverage is high: 216 countries are included, with 215 of those (99.5%) having data from the last seven years and 100% of datapoints classified as official. The ranking data contains 24 extreme outliers by a 3-sigma threshold, and the full range spans 18.47 to 361.61, a spread of 1,857.5%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by sub-Saharan African nations. Lesotho leads at 361.61, followed by Nigeria (342.63, rank 2), Central African Republic (326.79, rank 3), Chad (309.35, rank 4), and Zimbabwe (278.05, rank 6). Eswatini (232.50, rank 14) and South Africa (212.62, rank 21) also rank in the top 25, indicating that southern Africa as a subregion is heavily represented. Outside Africa, Nauru ranks 5th at 306.91, and the Marshall Islands rank 25th at 197.94, placing two Pacific island states among the highest-mortality countries globally. West Bank and Gaza ranks 44th at 171.48, and Libya ranks 45th at 169.91, adding Middle Eastern and North African entries to the upper tier.

The middle of the ranking includes countries across multiple regions with rates between roughly 80 and 150 per 1,000. Bulgaria ranks 81st at 118.35, the highest-ranked European Union member state in the top half of the table. The United States ranks 122nd at 82.42, placing it below Argentina (82.43, rank 121) and just above Kazakhstan (82.15, rank 123) — a notable position for a high-income country. Russia ranks 104th at 98.79. Several small island states show unexpectedly high rates: Nauru (rank 5, 306.91), Marshall Islands (rank 25, 197.94), Tuvalu (rank 32, 189.68), and Kiribati (rank 43, 171.57) all place well above many larger, lower-income mainland countries. At the lower end of the ranking, countries such as Switzerland (30.70, rank 205), South Korea (20.70, rank 214), Monaco (19.35, rank 215), and the UAE (18.47, rank 216) record the lowest female adult mortality rates.

Several data limitations apply to this metric. Modeled estimates are used for countries with incomplete civil registration systems, which can introduce uncertainty in the exact values, particularly for countries with weaker statistical infrastructure that also tend to rank highest. The metric captures only the 15-to-60 age band and says nothing about mortality among girls under 15 or women over 60. Because this is a probability derived from age-specific rates in a single year, it does not reflect actual cohort outcomes. Rankings for small territories and island states, including Nauru, Tuvalu, and Palau, may be more volatile given smaller population bases. The 94.9% consistency rate for 2023 data means that some country values may be interpolated or estimated rather than directly observed for that year.

Methodology

The metric is sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SP.DYN.AMRT.FE, with data for the reference year 2023. The definition used is verbatim from the source note: adult mortality rate, female, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 — that is, the probability of a 15-year-old female dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages. Values are expressed as absolute rates per 1,000 female adults. The ranking covers 216 countries. Of those, 215 (99.5%) have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality. The 2023 data year has coverage for 205 of 216 countries (94.9%), with the remainder relying on recent prior-year estimates. The dataset contains 24 extreme outliers as identified by a 3-sigma threshold. The full range runs from 18.47 (United Arab Emirates, rank 216) to 361.61 (Lesotho, rank 1), a spread of 1,857.5%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 6.3%, well within the 50% volatility threshold, indicating stable time-series behavior.

Sources

• World Bank