Africa Still Struggles With High Infant Mortality Rates

What we’re showing:

A ranking of the 15 countries with the highest infant mortality rates. Measured as the number of child deaths under the age of one per 1,000 live births in a given year. 

Key Takeaway

Fourteen of the top 15 countries with the highest infant mortality rates are from Africa.

And noticeably, sub-Saharan African countries tend to do a lot worse than their northern counterparts.

While this is concerning, Africa’s infant mortality rate as a whole has improved tremendously in the last seven decades.

Between 1950–2024, the continent’s average infant mortality rate fell 73% to 41 deaths per 1,000 births.