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Health · Africa ranking

Under-Five Mortality by African country

114.8Niger leads · 2023

Niger has the highest under-five mortality rate of any African country, at 114.8, ahead of Nigeria and Somalia.

Deaths before age five per 1,000 live births. 54 of 54 countries, ranked · WHO GHO, 2023.

1Niger114.82Nigeria104.93Somalia104
#1 vs #549.9×Niger vs Cabo Verde
Median44.7Zambia
Lowest11.6Cabo Verde

By region

regional average
West Africa68.3
16 countries · led by Niger
Central Africa61.8
9 countries · led by Chad
East Africa48.5
16 countries · led by Somalia
Southern Africa44
7 countries · led by Lesotho
North Africa25
6 countries · led by Sudan

Full ranking

54 of 54 countries
#CountryUnder-Five MortalityPeriod
1Niger
114.82023
2Nigeria
104.92023
3Somalia
1042023
4Chad
101.12023
5South Sudan
98.72023
6Guinea
952023
7Sierra Leone
94.32023
8Central African Republic
92.22023
9Mali
91.32023
10Benin
77.92023
11Burkina Faso
77.32023
12Democratic Republic of the Congo
73.22023
13Liberia
72.92023
14Equatorial Guinea
70.62023
15Guinea-Bissau
69.32023
16Cameroon
67.22023
17Cote d'Ivoire
67.12023
18Madagascar
64.82023
19Angola
642023
20Mozambique
61.72023
21Lesotho
58.92023
22Togo
58.32023
23Djibouti
50.42023
24Sudan
50.12023
25Burundi
49.22023
26Ethiopia
46.52023
27Eswatini
452023
28Zambia
44.72023
29Zimbabwe
44.22023
30Gambia
44.12023
31Namibia
40.72023
32Republic of the Congo
40.52023
33Rwanda
402023
34Kenya
39.92023
35Comoros
39.82023
36Botswana
39.62023
37Tanzania
38.92023
38Uganda
38.82023
39Senegal
38.52023
40Malawi
38.32023
41Mauritania
37.82023
42Ghana
37.12023
43Eritrea
35.42023
44South Africa
34.72023
45Gabon
33.22023
46Libya
30.82023
47Algeria
222023
48Egypt
17.52023
49Morocco
16.62023
50Mauritius
15.22023
51Seychelles
14.32023
52Sao Tome and Principe
13.92023
53Tunisia
12.92023
54Cabo Verde
11.62023

Get this ranking via API

GET /v1/data

One call to /v1/data returns the latest Under-Five Mortality figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=under_five_mortality_rate&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"
Get a free API key

Cite or republish this ranking

Data: Africa API — WHO GHO, 2023. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.

Embed this ranking

free · auto-updating

Drop this chart into your article or site — it stays live as the data updates. Paste the snippet anywhere HTML is allowed (a citation link is included).

<iframe src="https://africa-api.com/embed/under-five-mortality" width="100%" height="560" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #e3e3e3;border-radius:10px;max-width:640px" title="Under-Five Mortality by African country — Africa API"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;margin:.5rem 0"><a href="https://africa-api.com/data/under-five-mortality">Under-Five Mortality by African country — Africa API</a></p>

Frequently asked questions

Which African country has the highest under-five mortality rate?

Niger has the highest under-five mortality rate in Africa at 114.8 (2023), followed by Nigeria and Somalia.

Which African country has the lowest under-five mortality rate?

Cabo Verde has the lowest under-five mortality rate of the 54 African countries with data, at 11.6 (2023).

How many African countries report Under-Five Mortality data?

54 of 54 African countries have a recent Under-Five Mortality figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.

How do I get this ranking via API?

Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=under_five_mortality_rate&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.

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