Data are prepared by the United Population Division for the State of the World Children Program of the UNICEF. Data categories include basic indicators (e.g., birth and under five deaths, GNP per capita, life expectancy, adult literacy, school enrollment, income distribution); nutrition (e.g., low birth-weight, malnutrition, food production, calorie intake, food spending); health (e.g., access to water, use of oral rehydration salts); education (e.g., male and female literacy, radio and television sets, primary school enrollment and completion, secondary school enrollment); demographic indicators (e.g., child population, population growth rate, crude death rate, crude birth rate, life expectancy, fertility rate, urbanization); economic indicators (e.g., GNP per capita and annual growth rate, inflation, poverty, government expenditure, aid, debt service); women (e.g., life expectancy, literacy, enrollment in school, contraceptive use, tetanus immunization, trained attendance at births, maternal mortality); basic indicators of less populous countries; and, the rate of progress (e.g., under five mortality rate reduction, GNP per capita growth rates, fertility reduction rates). UNICEF is the main source of world data on children's access to health services and indicators on immunization coverage. It is a co-source of data on under-five-mortality rates and under-five-mortality reduction rates. UNICEF field offices are the sources of the following nutrition and social statistics for selected countries: infants with low-birth weights; mothers breast feeding; children suffering from moderate and severe underweight, wasting, and stunting; total adult literacy rate; and, age group enrollment in primary school. Official government data are used whenever possible. UNICEF also uses data generated by other divisions of the United Nations such as the Population Division, Statistical Office, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In addition, UNICEF uses data generated by other international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Rockefeller Foundation, World Health Organization (WHO), and World Bank. Data are examined to determine differences from the general definitions being used. Explanations and footnotes are provided to identify these differences. The statistics cover a wide-range of data reliability. Data available on the CD-ROM Demographic Indicators 1950-2050 (The 1998 Revision) prepared by the Population division, Dpartement of Economic and Social affairs. http://www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm

This entry gives the average annual number of deaths during a year per 1,000 population at midyear; also known as death rate. The death rate, while only a rough indicator of the mortality situation in a country, accurately indicates the current mortality impact on population growth. This indicator is significantly affected by age distribution, and most countries will eventually show a rise in the overall death rate, in spite of continued decline in mortality at all ages, as declining fertility results in an aging population.

Deaths per Thousand People

Socio-Economy

Health