Countries by UHC service coverage sub-index on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health
Belgium, Canada, Finland, and France share the top rank with a UHC reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health sub-index score of 92 out of 100. At the other end, Somalia scores 18, leaving a 74-point gap between the highest and lowest performers. That spread across 193 countries reflects the wide variation in access to and coverage of essential reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health services globally.
Ranking 2023
Analysis
This metric measures the UHC service coverage sub-index on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services. According to the source definition, it is based on four tracer indicators: (i) family planning, (ii) pregnancy care, (iii) child immunization, and (iv) child treatment. It is presented on a scale of 0 to 100 index points and is one of the four sub-indexes underlying the overall UHC service coverage index. The data come from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code SH_UHC_SCI_RMNCH) for the year 2023. Coverage is comprehensive: 193 countries have data, all from the last seven years, and 100% of data points are classified as official. The viability check identified 14 extreme outliers using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the range runs from 18 to 92, a spread of 411%.
The top of the ranking is dominated by high-income countries in Western Europe, alongside Canada and Australia. Four countries share rank 1 with a score of 92: Belgium, Canada, Finland, and France. Ranks 5 through 8 include China, Luxembourg, Monaco, and Norway, all at 91. Eight countries sit at rank 9 with a score of 90, including Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Notably, China at rank 5 with a score of 91 and Thailand at rank 22 with a score of 87 are among the highest-ranked middle-income countries, reflecting relatively broad coverage of the four tracer indicators in those contexts.
The middle of the ranking shows considerable geographic diversity. Kenya ranks 58th with a score of 78, while South Africa ranks 73rd at 76 and Namibia ranks 82nd at 75. Among Latin American countries, Cuba ranks 25th at 86 and the Dominican Republic ranks 26th at 85, placing above several higher-income nations. India ranks 109th with a score of 70. The lower portion of the ranking includes many sub-Saharan African nations: Nigeria ranks 180th at 44, Chad ranks 192nd at 24, and Somalia ranks last at 18. A notable anomaly is Albania at rank 172 with a score of 46, placing it alongside Angola, Botswana, Eritrea, and Sudan, which is a counterintuitive position for a European country. Similarly, Montenegro ranks 151st at 60 and Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks 167th at 53, both below many lower-income countries in other regions.
This metric captures coverage of four specific tracer indicators and does not reflect the quality, equity of distribution, or financial protection aspects of health services. A high score indicates broad coverage across the four tracers but does not confirm that all population subgroups benefit equally. Reporting reliability may vary across countries, as data collection methods and survey frequency differ. The 14 extreme outliers identified in the viability check suggest that some country scores deviate substantially from the global distribution, which may reflect genuine differences in service coverage or variation in how underlying survey data were collected and harmonized. The index is a composite of proxies rather than a direct measure of health outcomes.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH_UHC_SCI_RMNCH, for the reference year 2023. The metric is defined as follows: the UHC service coverage sub-index on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services is based on four tracer indicators: (i) family planning, (ii) pregnancy care, (iii) child immunization, (iv) child treatment. It is presented on a scale of 0 to 100 index points and is one of the four sub-indexes underlying the overall UHC service coverage index. The ranking covers 193 countries, all of which have data from within the last seven years, meeting the recency threshold. All 193 countries report data for the latest year (2023), and 100% of data points are classified as official, exceeding the 70% quality threshold. A viability check identified 14 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change is 0.9%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Scores range from 18 to 92, a spread of 411%. No microstates below 1 million population were excluded from the dataset.