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Table
Indicator name:
Child deaths among children under-five, number
Short name:
Under-five deaths
Data type:
Count
Indicator Id:
2712
Topic:
Mortality and burden of disease
Rationale:
Number of under-five deaths measures the magnitude of child mortality.
Definition:
Number of under-five deaths is the count of deaths occurring to a child, before reaching the age of five.
Disaggregation:
Age, Sex
M&E Framework:
Impact
Method of estimation:
These numbers of under-5 deaths are estimates, derived from the estimated UN IGME under-5 mortality rate and the population from World Population Prospects published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; hence they are not necessarily the same as the official national statistics.   More precisely, first, 1q4, the probability of dying between 1 to 4 years is derived from 1q0 and 5q0 as follows: 4q1 = (5q0-1q0)/(1-1q0) where 1q0= probability of dying between 0 to 1, estimated by infant mortality rate estimated by the UN IGME , and           5q0=probability of dying between 0 to 5, estimated by under-5 mortality rates by the UN IGME.   Then, for each age group 0 and 1-4, the central death rate M0 and M1 is computed as follows: M0 =  1q0/[1-(1-a)* 1q0] M1 =  4* 4q1 / 4*[1-(1-0.4)*4q1] where a is the fraction of year lived by an infant   = 0.1 for low mortality country and a= 0.3 for high mortality country   Finally, to obtain the number of deaths for each age group 0, 1-4, country population estimates of 0 and 1-4  from the latest available WPP are applied to the death rates of the corresponding age group; the number of deaths are then summed.  
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Global and regional estimates are derived from numbers of estimated deaths, aggregated by relevant region.
Other possible data sources:
Population census
Household surveys
Preferred data sources:
Civil registration with complete coverage
Unit of Measure:
N/A
Unit Multiplier:
3
Expected frequency of data dissemination:
Annual
Expected frequency of data collection:
Annual
Links:
UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA/Population Division. Child Mortality Estimates Info database
Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)
World Population Prospects. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division
WHO Mortality database
Indicator Metadata Registry List
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