The infant mortality rate is an important indicator of a country’s health conditions. This indicator is also used to compare the countries socio-economic development (the higher the rate, the more problematic the situation is). Infant mortality rate is the number of infant deaths (one year of age or younger) per 1,000 live births.
Since 1995, the infant mortality rate in Albania has changed as shown in the following figure:
Source: World Bank
Comments and Analysis: ODA
As it can be seen from the figure, the infant mortality rate has been declining steadily, reaching a minimum of 14 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2009. This is a positive trend, but in order to better understand the situation the figures should be compared to the regional countries.
The complete dataset is shown in the table below:
Source: World Bank
Comments and Analysis: ODA
Compared to the other countries of the region, Albania is the last one, having the highest rate of infant mortality. In concrete terms, the rates of the regional countries for 2009 are as follows:
Source: World Bank
Comments and Analysis: ODA
The best situation corresponds to Greece, with an infant mortality rate of 3 deaths per 1,000 live births, followed by Serbia (6), Macedonia (10) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (13). Albania has the highest rate in the region (14).
All the other countries have better indicators, which shows that Albania is still backward compared to these countries, more particularly in the areas of health and socio-economic conditions.