UNICEF's country profile for Nigeria, including under-five mortality rates, child health, education and sanitation data.

As of 2023, the mortality rate of infants aged under one-year-old in Nigeria was measured at 55.17. This means that there were about 55 deaths of children under the age of one year per 1,000 live births. Child mortality rates in Africa are very high. Among the countries with the highest infant mortality rate in the world, almost all of them are African countries. Similarly, maternal mortality rates are high. In 2017, Nigeria recorded 917 deaths of mothers per 100,000 live births.

In 2023, the infant mortality rate in deaths per 1,000 live births in Nigeria amounted to 60.1. Between 1964 and 2023, the figure dropped by 113.5, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

In 1955, the infant mortality rate in Nigeria was two hundred deaths per thousand live births, meaning that twenty percent of all newborns would not survive past their first birthday. Infant mortality would gradually decline in Nigeria over the next three decades, as mass vaccination campaigns and improvements in access to nutrition would lead to a sharp decline in the causes of infant and child mortality. This decline would largely level off at around 125 deaths per thousand live births beginning in the late 1980s, as a decline in oil revenues would lead to a scaling back of many government health programs, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic would spread rapidly throughout the country beginning in 1981 (as of 2019, Nigeria has the highest rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission worldwide). As HIV treatment would gradually improve, and the Nigerian economy would begin to recover in the 21st century, infant mortality would to decline once more in the 2000s. Despite this decline, in 2020, it is estimated that over six percent of all newborns do not make it to their first birthday, which is among the highest infant mortality rates in the world.

Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Infant: Female: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 60.700 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 62.600 Ratio for 2015. Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Infant: Female: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 73.800 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2016, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 115.400 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 60.700 Ratio in 2016. Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Infant: Female: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank: Health Statistics. Infant mortality rate, female is the number of female infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 female live births in a given year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted Average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

Historical dataset showing Nigeria infant mortality rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

In 2021, the main causes of death among children aged under five in Nigeria were neonatal disorders. More specifically, close to 32 percent of all deaths were caused by neonatal disorders. Among the main cases of infant mortality in Nigeria, there were malaria, lower respiratory infections, and diarrheal diseases.

Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) in Nigeria was reported at 60.1 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Under-5: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 104.300 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 108.000 Ratio for 2015. Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Under-5: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 210.100 Ratio from Dec 1964 (Median) to 2016, with 53 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 327.900 Ratio in 1964 and a record low of 104.300 Ratio in 2016. Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Under-5: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank: Health Statistics. Under-five mortality rate is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.; ; Estimates Developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

Number of infant deaths in Nigeria was reported at 443714 deaths in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Number of infant deaths - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

In 2019, Male Infant Mortality Rate in Nigeria was down by 2.1% compared to a year earlier.

Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Infant: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 64.600 Ratio in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 66.600 Ratio for 2016. Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Infant: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 123.900 Ratio from Dec 1964 (Median) to 2017, with 54 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 193.700 Ratio in 1964 and a record low of 64.600 Ratio in 2017. Nigeria NG: Mortality Rate: Infant: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

Mortality rate, infant, female (per 1,000 live births) in Nigeria was reported at 54.8 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Mortality rate, infant, female (per 1,000 live births) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Mortality rate, infant, male (per 1,000 live births) in Nigeria was reported at 65.3 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Mortality rate, infant, male (per 1,000 live births) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

BackgroundInfant mortality persists as a global public health concern, particularly in lower-middle-income countries (LIMCs) such as Nigeria. The risk of an infant dying before one year of age is estimated to be six times higher in Africa than in Europe. Nigeria recorded an infant mortality rate of 72.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020, in contrast to the global estimate of 27.4 per 1,000 live births. Several studies have been undertaken to determine the factors influencing infant mortality.ObjectiveThis scoping review sought to identify and summarise the breadth of evidence available on factors associated with infant mortality in Nigeria.MethodsThis review followed the five-stage principles of Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. Four electronic databases were searched with no limit to publication date or study type: Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL Complete, and Web of Science. Selected studies were imported into Endnote software and then exported to Rayyan software where duplicates were removed. Included articles were thematically analysed and synthesised using the socioecological model.ResultsA total of 8,139 references were compiled and screened. Forty-eight articles were included in the final review. At the individual level, maternal- and child-related factors were revealed to influence infant mortality; socioeconomic and sociocultural factors at the interpersonal level; provision and utilisation of health services, health workforce, hospital resources and access to health services at the organisational level; housing/neighbourhood and environmental factors at the community level; and lastly, governmental factors were found to affect infant mortality at the public policy level.ConclusionFactors related to the individual, interpersonal, organisational, community and public policy levels were associated with infant mortality in Nigeria.

Thematic analysis of the factors affecting infant mortality in Nigeria based on the SEM.

This repository provides replication data for "Effect of oil spills on infant mortality in Nigeria". The article is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

We examine the effect of forest loss around the time of birth on infant mortality and the early childhood health of children in rural Nigeria. We find that forest loss leads to an increase in neonatal mortality – one standard deviation of forest loss is associated with a 9-15% increase in the likelihood of death within the first month of life. The mechanism linking forest loss to infant death is maternal exposure to malaria when the child is in utero. Such exposure also results in worse birth outcomes, proxied by lower weight-for-age and height-for-age of surviving infants.

This statistic shows the 20 countries* with the highest infant mortality rate in 2024. An estimated 101.3 infants per 1,000 live births died in the first year of life in Afghanistan in 2024. Infant and child mortality Infant mortality usually refers to the death of children younger than one year. Child mortality, which is often used synonymously with infant mortality, is the death of children younger than five. Among the main causes are pneumonia, diarrhea – which causes dehydration – and infections in newborns, with malnutrition also posing a severe problem. As can be seen above, most countries with a high infant mortality rate are developing countries or emerging countries, most of which are located in Africa. Good health care and hygiene are crucial in reducing child mortality; among the countries with the lowest infant mortality rate are exclusively developed countries, whose inhabitants usually have access to clean water and comprehensive health care. Access to vaccinations, antibiotics and a balanced nutrition also help reducing child mortality in these regions. In some countries, infants are killed if they turn out to be of a certain gender. India, for example, is known as a country where a lot of girls are aborted or killed right after birth, as they are considered to be too expensive for poorer families, who traditionally have to pay a costly dowry on the girl’s wedding day. Interestingly, the global mortality rate among boys is higher than that for girls, which could be due to the fact that more male infants are actually born than female ones. Other theories include a stronger immune system in girls, or more premature births among boys.

Timing of neonatal and infant deaths.