How to Calculate Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Nepal: With Example

Infant mortality rate is considered as an important indicator of mortality. The death of children below one year of age is higher than the death in other ages in almost all countries of the world. Infant mortality rate is considered as one of the important indicators of the social, economic and health condition of a country. Higher rate of infant mortality indicates that the country is lagging behind in development. Normally developing countries like Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh have a high rate of infant mortality.

The infant mortality rate in Nepal was 48 per thousand according to Nepal demographic health survey 2006.

Infant mortality rate can be defined as the total number of infant deaths under one year of age per 1000 live births in a place in a given year. It can be calculated by dividing the total number of deaths under 1 years of age by the total number of live birth and multiplying the quotient by 1000.

The following formula can be used to calculate IMR.

IMR = D0/B * 1000

Where,

D0 = total number of death under one year age in a place or country in a given year.

B = total number of live births in a year

IMR = infant mortality rate

For example

There were 80000 infant deaths in Nepal in 1996 and the total number of live births was 900000. Find out the infant mortality rate (IMR) for Nepal in 1996.

Solution:

Total number of deaths under one year of age in 1996 (D0) = 80000

The total number of live births in 1996 (B) = 900000

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) =?

Here,

IMR =

= 80000/900000 *1000

= 88.88 infants per 1000

Therefore about 89 infants out of 1000 live births died in Nepal in 1995.

The following table shows the trend of infant mortality rate in Nepal in different periods of time.

Table of infant mortality rate of Nepal, 1954-2006

Source: MOHP, 2007, Nepal Population report 2007, Nepal demographic health survey 2006