Infant mortality rate is one indicator for measuring the level of maternal and child health. A lower infant mortality rate in a region indicates better health programs.
Based on World Bank data, Indonesia's neonatal infant mortality rate (age 0-28 days) was 11.7 per 1,000 live births in 2021. This means that between 11 and 12 neonatal infants died out of every 1,000 live births.
This figure shows an improvement compared to the previous year, which was 12.2 per 1,000 live births. Over the last decade, Indonesia's neonatal infant mortality rate has also shown a downward trend and has consistently been below the global average. In 2021, the global neonatal infant mortality rate was 17 per 1,000 live births.
However, compared to countries in Southeast Asia (Association of Southeast Asian Nations/ASEAN), Indonesia's infant mortality rate is the fifth highest out of 10 countries.
Indonesia's neonatal infant mortality rate is significantly higher than Singapore's, which was only 0.8 per 1,000 live births in 2021. This means that only about 1 neonatal infant died out of 1,000 live births in Singapore.
Indonesia's neonatal infant mortality rate is also higher than that of other ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, and Vietnam, as shown in the graph.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is the country in Southeast Asia with the highest neonatal infant mortality rate, at 22.3 per 1,000 live births. The neonatal infant mortality rates of Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines are also higher than Indonesia's.