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The purpose of this indicator is to measure the neonatal mortality rate to assess progress towards achieving SDG Target: ‘By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births’. This indicator provides essential data on health and the survival of newborns, which is critical for understanding the effectiveness of maternal and neonatal healthcare services, identifying gaps in care, and addressing the causes of neonatal mortality to improve health outcomes for newborns. By monitoring this indicator, policymakers, stakeholders, and organizations can make informed decisions to promote sustainable development and address challenges in improving neonatal care, reducing preventable neonatal deaths, enhancing maternal health services, and ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare for newborns. This indicator helps to ensure that newborns, particularly those in underserved or vulnerable populations, are included in efforts to achieve improved maternal and child health, and reduce neonatal mortality rates, thereby contributing to the overall objective of sustainable, inclusive, and equitable growth. 

This indicator measures the neonatal mortality rate to monitor progress towards SDG Target: ‘By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births’. Neonatal deaths are defined as deaths among live births during the first 28 completed days of life and may be subdivided into early neonatal deaths, occurring during the first 7 days of life, and late neonatal deaths, occurring after the 7th day but before the 28th completed day of life. The relevance of this indicator lies in its ability to provide critical data on health and the survival of newborns, which is essential for understanding the quality of maternal and neonatal healthcare services, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing interventions to reduce neonatal mortality rates. The data for this indicator is collected through administrative records, and it is calculated as the probability that a child born in a specific year or period will die during the first 28 completed days of life, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of that period, expressed per 1,000 live births. By tracking this indicator, stakeholders can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of maternal and neonatal healthcare services, identifying gaps in care, and addressing the causes of neonatal mortality to improve health outcomes for newborns, enabling them to make informed decisions to promote sustainable development and address challenges in improving neonatal care, reducing preventable neonatal deaths, enhancing maternal health services, and ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare for newborns.

Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW)

Annual

Number; Deaths per 1,000 live births. 

Indicator definition: Neonatal deaths (deaths among live births during the first 28 completed days of life) may be subdivided into early neonatal deaths, occurring during the first 7 days of life, and late neonatal deaths, occurring after the 7th day but before the 28th completed day of life.
Geographical coverage: National
Data collection method: Administrative reports. 
Data availability: Data is available from 2008 to 2023.

N/A

Country (Male and female) and district.

The United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) estimates are derived from nationally representative data from censuses, surveys or vital registration systems. The UN IGME does not use any covariates to derive its estimates (except in the case of neonatal mortality estimation, which incorporates the relatively more data-rich under-five mortality rate estimates in the modelling). It only applies a curve fitting method to good-quality empirical data to derive trend estimates after data quality assessment. In most cases, the UN IGME estimates are close to the underlying data. The UN IGME aims to minimize the errors for each estimate, harmonize trends over time and produce up-to-date and properly assessed estimates. The UN IGME produces neonatal mortality rate (NMR) estimates with a Bayesian spline regression model, which models the ratio of neonatal mortality rate / (under-five mortality rate - neonatal mortality rate). Estimates of NMR are obtained by recombining the estimates of the ratio with the UN IGME-estimated under-five mortality rate. See the references for details. 

For the underlying data mentioned above, the most frequently used methods are as follows: 

Civil registration: The neonatal mortality rate can be calculated from the number of children who died during the first 28 days of life and the number of live births. 

Censuses and surveys: Censuses and surveys often include questions on household deaths in the last 12 months, which can be used to calculate mortality estimates. 

Surveys: A direct method is used based on a full birth history, a series of detailed questions on each child a woman has given birth to during her lifetime. Neonatal, post-neonatal, infant, child and under-five mortality estimates can be derived from the full birth history.

Policy Development: Use the data to inform and shape policies aimed at improving neonatal health outcomes, enhancing neonatal care services, and reducing neonatal mortality rates. 
Program Planning and Implementation: Design and implement programs to improve access to quality neonatal care services, including skilled attendance at birth, neonatal resuscitation, essential newborn care, and postnatal support. 
Monitoring and Evaluation: Track progress towards SDG Target 3.2 and evaluate the effectiveness of neonatal health programs and interventions, using data to measure outcomes, identify gaps, and make evidence-based adjustments to reduce neonatal mortality rates and improve neonatal health outcomes. 
International Comparisons: Compare progress in reducing neonatal mortality rates across different countries, identifying successful strategies and best practices that can be adopted to improve neonatal health outcomes globally. 
Reporting and Accountability: Report progress to stakeholders, including governments and international organizations, to ensure accountability and transparency in achieving SDG Target 3.2.

All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.