Levels of infant mortality in a context perspective: a focus on Africa

The world under-five mortality rate declined by 56 per cent, from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births in1990 to 41 in 2016. However, Africa remains the region with the highest global burden of child mortality. The study intends to describe the transition to lower infant mortality of most African countries in the last decades. Applying a cluster analysis on DHS data representing the levels of infant mortality and the values of some covariates regarding health, woman’s status and economic situation, we found four scenarios ranging from a lowest-low to a medium development. Related to these differences, we found a reduction of infant mortality from 96.8to 42.2, a decline of fertility from 6.0 to 4.2 birth per woman, an increase of the woman’s median age at first marriage from 17 to 20 years, and an increase of the percentage of women with a diploma from 13 to 43%.