Countries by Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)
South Sudan ranks 1st with an infant mortality rate of 72.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, the highest recorded across all 196 countries in this dataset. At the opposite end, San Marino ranks 196th with a rate of just 1.4, a gap of 71.2 per 1,000 live births. That 5,086% spread between the highest and lowest values illustrates how unevenly child survival outcomes are distributed globally.
Ranking 2023
Analysis
This metric measures the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. The data comes from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SP.DYN.IMRT.IN) and reflects the 2023 reference year. All 196 countries in this ranking have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality estimates. The World Bank identifies 15 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the year-over-year average change across the dataset is 3.2%. Because this indicator counts only deaths occurring before age one, it does not capture broader child or under-five mortality, and it excludes stillbirths.
The ten highest-ranked countries, meaning those with the most deaths per 1,000 live births, are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. South Sudan leads at 72.6 (rank 1), followed by Somalia at 67.8 (rank 2) and Niger at 67.4 (rank 3). Guinea (rank 4, 61.5), the Central African Republic (rank 5, 60.4), Nigeria (rank 6, 60.1), and Chad (rank 7, 58.7) also exceed 55 deaths per 1,000 live births. Pakistan at 50.1 (rank 13) and Afghanistan at 50.4 (rank 12) are the only non-African countries in the top 15. These placements reflect the upper bound of the dataset's distribution.
Several placements in the middle of the ranking stand out. Lesotho ranks 10th with a rate of 55.4, placing it above much larger economies. Dominica appears at rank 41 with a value of 33.1, a notably high figure among small island states, which are otherwise scattered across the lower half of the ranking. Turkmenistan ranks 44th at 31.2, higher than many countries in its geographic region. In the lower half of the ranking, the United States sits at rank 141 with a rate of 5.5, placing it below Canada (rank 154, 4.4) and well below comparable high-income European countries such as Germany (rank 168, 3.1) and France (rank 164, 3.4).
A key limitation of this metric is that infant mortality estimates for many high-ranking countries rely on modeled figures rather than complete vital registration data, which can introduce uncertainty at the country level. Differences in how births and infant deaths are registered across national systems can distort cross-country comparisons. The 15 extreme outliers identified in the viability check suggest that several country values sit far outside the global distribution, which may reflect genuine conditions or data constraints. The indicator also does not distinguish cause of death, age at death within the first year, or urban-rural variation, all of which can mask significant within-country disparities.
Methodology
The metric is defined by the World Bank as follows: infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. The data source is the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SP.DYN.IMRT.IN, with a reference year of 2023. The ranking covers 196 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years, representing 100% recency coverage. All 196 datapoints are classified as official estimates, meeting and exceeding the 70% quality threshold. The dataset contains 15 extreme outliers as identified by a 3-standard-deviation filter. The average year-over-year change is 3.2%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 1.4 (San Marino) to 72.6 (South Sudan), a spread of 5,085.7%. Higher values indicate more infant deaths per 1,000 live births and are ranked first in this reference. Data limitations include reliance on modeled estimates where civil registration systems are incomplete.