Countries by Mortality rate, under-5, male (per 1,000 live births)
Niger ranks 1st with a male under-5 mortality rate of 118.5 per 1,000 live births, meaning roughly 1 in 8 newborn boys does not reach age five. At the opposite end, San Marino records 1.5, a gap of 117 points between the highest and lowest values in the ranking. The spread across 196 countries reflects how unevenly child survival outcomes are distributed globally.
Ranking 2023
Analysis
This metric measures the probability, per 1,000 live births, that a newborn male will die before reaching age five. Specifically, under-five mortality rate, male is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn male baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to male age-specific mortality rates of the specified year. The unit is an absolute probability value, not a count of deaths. It covers only male newborns and does not account for female or combined under-5 mortality. Data come from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.DYN.MORT.MA, for the reference year 2023. Coverage is strong: 196 countries have data, representing 100% recency within the last 7 years. All 196 datapoints are classified as official quality. The viability checks identified 24 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range runs from 1.5 to 118.5, a spread of 7,800%.
The top of the ranking is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. Niger (rank 1) records 118.5, Nigeria (rank 2) records 110.1, and Somalia (rank 3) records 109.6. Chad (rank 4, 107.2), South Sudan (rank 5, 104.3), and Guinea (rank 6, 101.8) also exceed 100. Nine of the top 10 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa; Pakistan at rank 22 with a value of 63.0 is the first country outside that region in the upper tier. The top 20 countries all have values above 65, and all are in Africa, reflecting a regional concentration at the high end of this ranking.
The middle of the ranking covers a wide range of regions. Countries in the 50th to 100th range include the Philippines (rank 63, 29.6), India (rank 66, 27.7), and Bolivia (rank 71, 25.3). One notable placement is Dominica at rank 54 with a value of 37.7, which sits higher than South Africa (rank 55, 37.2) and well above several larger middle-income countries. Turkmenistan (rank 36, 44.9) ranks higher than Kenya (rank 38, 44.0) despite differing regional contexts. In the lower half, the United States ranks 143rd with a value of 7.0, placing below many European countries but above Canada (rank 156, 5.4) and the United Kingdom (rank 159, 4.9). San Marino ranks last at 196th with 1.5, and Singapore ranks 195th with 2.2.
Several limitations apply to this metric. The values are model-based estimates derived from available civil registration, survey, and census data, which vary in completeness and regularity across countries. Countries with weaker civil registration systems may have greater uncertainty in their estimates even though their data is classified as official. The metric captures only male under-5 mortality and cannot be used directly to compare overall child mortality without consulting the corresponding female or combined indicators. The presence of 24 extreme outliers flagged at the 3-sigma level suggests that some values sit far outside the central distribution, which may reflect genuine disparities or underlying data quality differences. Small-population countries and territories with low birth counts can show high variance in reported rates from year to year.
Methodology
Rankings are based on the World Bank World Development Indicators indicator SH.DYN.MORT.MA, under-five mortality rate, male, for the reference year 2023. The source definition states verbatim: under-five mortality rate, male is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn male baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to male age-specific mortality rates of the specified year. The dataset covers 196 countries, all with data from within the last 7 years, representing 100% recency. All 196 datapoints are classified as official quality, exceeding the 70% threshold. The viability checks identified 24 extreme outliers using a 3-sigma threshold. Average year-over-year change is 3.6%, well below the 50% volatility threshold. The value range runs from 1.5 to 118.5, a spread of 7,800%. Higher values indicate higher male under-5 mortality. The indicator reflects model-based estimates and may incorporate adjustments where raw registration data are incomplete.