Malawi vs Zambia: Number of child deaths per woman

Malawi
0.1976 under-five deaths per woman
in 2024
Zambia
0.2201 under-five deaths per woman
in 2024
Malawi rank
29th
Zambia rank
26th

Number of child deaths per woman over time

  • Malawi
  • Zambia
00.511.522.5195219882024

How they compare

Zambia currently reports 0.2201 under-five deaths per woman against 0.1976 under-five deaths per woman in Malawi, a difference of 0.0225 under-five deaths per woman.

That makes Zambia's figure about 1.1 times Malawi's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 64 shared years of data; in 1961 it was Malawi ahead.

Malawi ranks 29th and Zambia ranks 26th of 200 countries.

Across the 7 decades both report, Malawi averaged higher in 5 and Zambia in 2.

Head to head by decade

Decade Malawi Zambia Difference Ahead
1960s 2.52 under-five deaths per woman 1.39 under-five deaths per woman 1.13 under-five deaths per woman Malawi
1970s 2.27 under-five deaths per woman 1.19 under-five deaths per woman 1.08 under-five deaths per woman Malawi
1980s 1.83 under-five deaths per woman 1.14 under-five deaths per woman 0.6894 under-five deaths per woman Malawi
1990s 1.38 under-five deaths per woman 1.08 under-five deaths per woman 0.3001 under-five deaths per woman Malawi
2000s 0.7575 under-five deaths per woman 0.6364 under-five deaths per woman 0.121 under-five deaths per woman Malawi
2010s 0.2859 under-five deaths per woman 0.307 under-five deaths per woman 0.021 under-five deaths per woman Zambia
2020s 0.2017 under-five deaths per woman 0.2246 under-five deaths per woman 0.0229 under-five deaths per woman Zambia

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher number of child deaths per woman, Malawi or Zambia?
Zambia, at 0.2201 under-five deaths per woman against 0.1976 under-five deaths per woman in Malawi as of 2024.
What is the difference in number of child deaths per woman between Malawi and Zambia?
0.0225 under-five deaths per woman, with Zambia ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Malawi and Zambia?
64 years are reported by both, from 1961 to 2024.
How do Malawi and Zambia rank globally for number of child deaths per woman?
Malawi ranks 29th and Zambia ranks 26th of 200 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Gapminder (2015); UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (2025) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Number of child deaths per woman. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Number of child deaths per woman
Unit
under-five deaths per woman
Source
Gapminder (2015); UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (2025) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
200 places, 16,060 data points, 1800–2024
Last refreshed

The fertility rate (average number of children per woman) multiplied by the under-five mortality rate (probability of dying before age five).