Which Countries Cut Infant Mortality the Most Since 1960?

Which country “improved the most” depends on the yardstick. Counting deaths avoided favors countries that started very high. Counting the percentage drop favors countries that ended up very low, whatever their starting point. Libya, Oman and Türkiye are the only three in the top ten on both lists.

Infant mortality here means deaths before the first birthday per 1,000 live births. The series is the World Bank’s, built on UN estimates (UN IGME). These are model-based estimates, and the early years carry wide uncertainty, especially where births and deaths were poorly recorded. The comparison covers the 129 countries with a value for both 1960 and 2024; the other 63 of 192 have no 1960 value. Data retrieved November 5, 2026; World Bank update 2026-10-08.

• Which country improved the most? Yemen by deaths avoided per 1,000 births, the United Arab Emirates by percentage.
• Why did the rate fall? Vaccination, nutrition, treatment of childhood illness and care at birth, among other things, according to the WHO and others.
• And Japan? 19th lowest in 1960, tied 3rd now.
• Where do children die most today? 58% of deaths of children under 5 are in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2024).

Biggest drop in deaths per 1,000 births, 1960–2024

Top 10 drops in infant mortality (per 1,000 live births), 1960 to 2024

Rank	Country	1960	2024	Drop (per 1,000)	Drop (%)
1	Yemen	275.9	33.8	242.1	87.7%
2	Oman	238.9	8.3	230.6	96.5%
3	Afghanistan	252.4	48.3	204.1	80.9%
4	Nepal	219.4	22.2	197.2	89.9%
5	Libya	194.0	7.9	186.1	95.9%
6	Bolivia	186.4	14.2	172.2	92.4%
7	Türkiye	178.3	8.0	170.3	95.5%
8	Côte d’Ivoire	209.5	44.8	164.7	78.6%
9	Haiti	195.4	39.0	156.4	80.0%
10	Bangladesh	177.9	24.4	153.5	86.3%

Ranked among the 129 countries with data in both years. The 1960 values are model estimates.

All ten started at 177.9 or more, so there was far more to lose than in countries that began near today’s levels. Yemen fell by 242.1, Oman by 230.6, and Afghanistan by 204.1. Even so, Afghanistan and Haiti, with rates still at 48.3 and 39.0, remain far above the world’s lowest levels.

Biggest drop as a share of the 1960 level

Top 10 percentage drops in infant mortality, 1960 to 2024

Rank	Country	1960	2024	Drop (per 1,000)	Drop (%)
1	United Arab Emirates	146.3	3.8	142.5	97.4%
2	South Korea	74.4	2.3	72.1	96.9%
3	Portugal	84.4	2.7	81.7	96.8%
4	Oman	238.9	8.3	230.6	96.5%
5	Libya	194.0	7.9	186.1	95.9%
6	Türkiye	178.3	8.0	170.3	95.5%
7	Bahrain	159.7	7.3	152.4	95.4%
8	Chile	123.7	5.8	117.9	95.3%
9	Belarus	37.0	1.8	35.2	95.1%
10	Estonia	29.0	1.5	27.5	94.8%

Ranked among the 129 countries with data in both years.

South Korea stands out in this list: 74.4 in 1960, 2.3 in 2024, a 96.9% fall. Countries that started low can only drop so many deaths, but they can still cut the rate by nine-tenths, as Belarus (37.0 to 1.8) and Estonia (29.0 to 1.5) did.

How the whole picture shifted

The median country fell from 95.5 to 12.8 per 1,000. In 1960, 61 of 129 countries were at 100 or above, and 5 were at 200 or above. In 2024, none of them is at 100 or above. Today’s highest rate among all 192 countries, 71.9 in South Sudan, is below the 1960 median.

Why did infant mortality fall worldwide?

The WHO credits past gains to wider vaccination, better nutrition, better management of childhood illness and more skilled health workers at births (WHO). Our World in Data adds clean water and sanitation, care for newborns, medicines, oral rehydration therapy for diarrhoea, and less poverty, conflict and famine (Our World in Data).

Which factor mattered most differs from country to country. These data show the change in the rate, not its causes.

Where do babies and children die most today?

This article is about infant mortality, deaths before the first birthday. Newborn (neonatal) deaths are those in the first 28 days, and under-5 deaths cover the first five years. According to the WHO, about 4.9 million children under 5 died in 2024, and 47% of them (2.3 million) died within 28 days of birth. The global under-5 mortality rate was 37.4 per 1,000 live births, down about 60% since 1990. Since 2015, though, the rate has fallen at less than half the pace of 2000–2015.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the most deaths: 2.8 million under-5 deaths (58% of the world) at a rate of 71.6 per 1,000. The main causes are complications of preterm birth, problems during birth, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria (WHO). These figures are for children under 5, a different measure from the infant mortality used in this article.

Where progress was slow

Smallest percentage drops, 1960 to 2024

Rank	Country	1960	2024	Drop (per 1,000)	Drop (%)
1	Zimbabwe	79.3	62.4	16.9	21.3%
2	Sudan	92.9	42.9	50.0	53.8%
3	Dominica	81.8	33.3	48.5	59.3%
4	Lesotho	138.4	56.3	82.1	59.3%
5	Chad	142.4	56.3	86.1	60.5%

Ranked among the countries with data in both years, from the smallest drop.

Zimbabwe is the clearest case: 79.3 in 1960, a low of 53.5 in 1991, and 62.4 in 2024. Its rate fell only 21.3% over more than six decades. These data show the change, not its causes.

During the same period, child mortality rose in parts of Southern Africa because of HIV/AIDS, according to Our World in Data (Our World in Data). These data alone cannot say whether that explains Zimbabwe’s path.

Japan, the United States and South Korea

In 1960, Japan’s rate (30.4) was higher than the United States’ (25.9); Japan ranked 19th lowest of 129, the United States 13th. Japan went below the United States in 1963 and has stayed below ever since. In 2024 Japan’s 1.8 is tied for 3rd lowest of 192 with Belarus and Slovenia, while the United States’ 5.5 ranks 52nd.

Japan cut its rate by 94.1%, the 13th-largest percentage drop among the 129. The United States cut its rate by 78.8%, ranked 88th. South Korea dropped below the United States in 1996. Türkiye started at 178.3, the highest of the five countries in the chart, and ended at 8.0.

Why is Japan’s rate so low? Japan’s infant mortality was 76.7 in 1947, just after the war, higher than in other countries at the time. Until the early 1960s many infants died of pneumonia and intestinal infections. During the high-growth years, hygiene and nutrition improved greatly, and the mother-and-child health handbook system, begun in 1948, is also credited. In the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s statistics the rate was 1.9 in 2017 (nippon.com, in Japanese). That is Japan’s own statistic, which can differ slightly from the World Bank estimate used here.

Why is the United States’ rate higher than Japan’s? A 2014 report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (data for 2010) put the US rate at 6.1, higher than in 25 of 28 other developed countries compared; Finland and Japan were lowest at 2.3. Preterm births had long been assumed to be the main driver, but the report pointed to deaths of babies born at full term (37 weeks or later) as a major factor too. By press accounts, the US full-term rate was the highest of the 12 countries studied (NBC News). These are old data, so check the latest statistics for current values.

Does the answer change if we start later?

Yes. Starting from 1990 covers all 192 countries, including ones missing from 1960. By drop in deaths, the leaders are Timor-Leste, Liberia, Mozambique. By percentage, they are Maldives, North Macedonia, China.

From 1990 to 2024.

China is missing from the main ranking because its series starts in 1969. From 1969 to 2024 it fell from 88.8 to 4.1, 95.4%. Added to the percentage list (with a later start), it would rank 8th.

Summary

• Largest drop in deaths per 1,000: Yemen (275.9 to 33.8), then Oman, Afghanistan, Nepal and Libya.
• Largest drop as a share: United Arab Emirates (97.4%) and South Korea (96.9%).
• The median country went from 95.5 to 12.8; no country is at 100 or above now, against 61 of 129 in 1960.
• Japan went from 19th lowest to tied 3rd lowest and passed the United States in 1963.
• Zimbabwe barely moved (21.3% drop).