Number of deaths of children under 5 years per 1,000 live births

Sub-categories

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Headline data

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Geographical Area: United Kingdom

Unit of Measurement: Rate per 1,000 live births

Footnote: England and Wales dissagregated by Sex is not reported from 2018 onwards.

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from UK statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from UK statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other UK-specific metadata information.

Indicator available

Number of deaths of children under 5 years per 1,000 live births

Indicator description

Number of deaths before the age of 5 for each year per 1,000 live births in the same year.

Geographical coverage

United Kingdom

Unit of measurement

Rate per 1,000 live births

Definitions
Available disaggregations

Country - Country of occurrence. Northern Ireland rates are not shown as birth figures are for residents only, whilst those for deaths also include non-residents. The headline figure includes non-residents.

Sex - Sex is available in conjunction with Country.

Calculations

Rate per 1,000 live births = (Infant deaths + childhood deaths ages 1-4) / (live births / 1,000)

Other information

Important information on the strengths and limitations of the data, the quality of the output, uses and users, and how the output was created are given in the Child and infant mortality Quality and Methodology Information document.

Where the number of deaths is smaller than 3, rates are not given.

Non-residents are included in the rates for the UK, England and Wales combined, and Scotland. However, non-residents are excluded from rates for England, and for Wales.

Non-residents are treated differently between countries to be consistent with the statistics those countries report - The figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are consistent with figures published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) respectively, and each organisation uses slightly different definitions. This does have a small knock-on effect on comparability but the differences that non-residents make to rates are relatively small – at the most, including/excluding non-residents leads to a difference of 0.1 in the rates shown. Please see the User guide to child and infant mortality statistics for information on comparability between countries.

Data follows the UN specification for this indicator. This indicator has been identified in collaboration with topic experts.

Data last updated 11 April 2022
Metadata last updated 28 April 2022

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name

Under‐5 mortality rate

Target name

By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under‐5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births

Global indicator description
UN designated tier

Tier I

UN custodian agency

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEFF)

Link to UN metadata United Nations Sustainable Development Goals metadata for target 3.2 opens in a new window

Source 1

Organisation

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Periodicity

Annual

Earliest available data

2008

Geographical coverage

UK

Link to data source Childhood mortality in England and Wales opens in a new window
Release date 17 February 2022
Next release

February 2023 (provisional)

Statistical classification

National Statistic

Contact details

Health.Data@ons.gov.uk

Other information

See the Child and infant mortality statistics QMI for quality and methodology information. 

Source 2

Organisation

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Periodicity

Annual

Earliest available data

1999

Geographical coverage

UK

Link to data source Mortality Statistics - Childhood, infant and perinatal, England and Wales (Series DH3) opens in a new window
Release date 31 August 2009
Next release

Discontinued

Statistical classification

National Statistic

Contact details

Health.Data@ons.gov.uk

Other information
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