Share of children with symptoms of a respiratory infection who received antibiotics by country

The caregiver reported share of children under five years old, with symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection, who received antibiotics for this illness.

Countries reporting

132

Highest

79.9%

Kazakhstan

Lowest

23.0%

Mauritania

Median

51.0%

Years covered

2000–2018

Data points

2,508

What the numbers show

Share of children with symptoms of a respiratory infection who received antibiotics is currently reported for 132 countries. The highest value is 79.9% in Kazakhstan; the lowest is 23.0% in Mauritania.

The median across all reporting countries is 51.0%, and the mean is 53.0%.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 3.

Over the past decade 72 countries rose and 59 fell. The largest increase was in Mozambique (up 72.9%), and the largest decrease in Grenada (down 38.7%).

Share of children with symptoms of a respiratory infection who received antibiotics: full country ranking

#	Country	Latest	Year	10-year change	Trend
1	Kazakhstan	79.9%	2018	up 6.5%	rising
1	Ukraine	79.9%	2018	up 1.0%	rising
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	79.3%	2018	up 3.8%	flat
4	Belarus	79.2%	2018	up 5.2%	rising
5	Malaysia	79.0%	2018	up 12.1%	falling
6	Moldova	78.4%	2018	up 7.3%	rising
6	Uzbekistan	78.4%	2018	up 18.3%	rising
8	Thailand	77.8%	2018	up 11.6%	rising
9	Cambodia	77.2%	2018	up 16.4%	rising
10	Montenegro	76.3%	2018	up 8.1%	rising
11	Panama	74.6%	2018	up 18.2%	rising
12	North Macedonia	74.5%	2018	up 6.9%	flat
13	Vietnam	74.2%	2018	up 16.9%	rising
14	Romania	73.7%	2018	up 2.6%	flat
15	Sri Lanka	73.6%	2018	up 3.2%	rising
15	Tajikistan	73.6%	2018	up 14.5%	rising
17	Syria	73.2%	2018	up 3.5%	rising
18	Sudan	72.9%	2018	up 28.8%	rising
19	Bangladesh	72.7%	2018	up 2.4%	rising
20	Albania	72.2%	2018	down 1.8%	rising
21	Palestine	70.1%	2018	down 2.9%	flat
22	Kyrgyzstan	69.6%	2018	up 9.8%	rising
23	Costa Rica	67.3%	2018	down 0.9%	flat
24	Iraq	66.9%	2018	down 16.6%	rising
25	Cuba	66.8%	2018	up 3.2%	flat
25	India	66.8%	2018	up 19.5%	rising
27	Mexico	65.0%	2018	up 21.5%	rising
28	Bulgaria	64.1%	2018	down 8.7%	flat
28	Honduras	64.1%	2018	up 1.3%	rising
30	Georgia	63.7%	2018	down 4.8%	falling
31	Yemen	63.6%	2018	up 38.9%	rising
32	Afghanistan	63.5%	2018	down 3.2%	flat
33	Iran	61.6%	2018	down 12.1%	falling
34	Turkmenistan	61.2%	2018	up 0.3%	rising
35	Algeria	60.5%	2018	down 2.6%	rising
36	Saint Lucia	60.0%	2018	down 3.1%	rising
37	Equatorial Guinea	59.9%	2018	up 2.0%	rising
37	Serbia	59.9%	2018	down 19.3%	falling
39	Croatia	59.6%	2018	down 5.1%	falling
40	Dominica	59.1%	2018	down 1.5%	rising
40	Laos	59.1%	2018	up 8.0%	rising
42	Dominican Republic	58.9%	2018	down 6.5%	flat
43	Haiti	58.2%	2018	up 15.2%	rising
43	Jordan	58.2%	2018	down 23.4%	flat
45	Libya	57.6%	2018	down 14.5%	rising
46	Mongolia	57.4%	2018	down 15.3%	falling
47	Gabon	57.3%	2018	up 6.3%	rising
48	Jamaica	56.8%	2018	down 2.9%	flat
49	Peru	56.0%	2018	up 26.1%	rising
50	Sao Tome and Principe	55.9%	2018	up 8.3%	rising
51	Bhutan	55.6%	2018	up 10.1%	rising
52	Sierra Leone	54.3%	2018	up 13.8%	rising
53	Venezuela	54.2%	2018	up 8.4%	rising
54	Myanmar	54.0%	2018	up 4.2%	falling
55	Tunisia	53.5%	2018	down 7.1%	rising
56	Morocco	53.4%	2018	up 8.5%	rising
56	Uganda	53.4%	2018	up 21.6%	rising
58	Colombia	53.1%	2018	up 2.1%	rising
58	Ecuador	53.1%	2018	up 7.1%	rising
60	Samoa	52.4%	2018	down 1.3%	flat
61	Madagascar	52.0%	2018	up 19.0%	rising
62	Guatemala	51.9%	2018	up 6.6%	falling
63	Liberia	51.7%	2018	up 33.6%	rising
64	Paraguay	51.6%	2018	down 5.0%	flat
65	Brazil	51.4%	2018	up 5.5%	rising
66	Western Sahara	51.1%	2018	down 5.5%	flat
67	American Samoa	51.0%	2018	down 0.8%	flat
67	Fiji	51.0%	2018	unchanged	flat
69	Marshall Islands	50.1%	2018	up 0.2%	flat
70	Pakistan	49.9%	2018	down 14.4%	falling
71	Kiribati	49.8%	2018	up 1.4%	flat
71	Namibia	49.8%	2018	up 26.4%	rising
73	Democratic Republic of Congo	49.7%	2018	up 9.7%	rising
73	Kenya	49.7%	2018	up 8.5%	rising
73	Nepal	49.7%	2018	down 2.4%	flat
76	Cape Verde	49.3%	2018	up 1.4%	flat
77	Congo	49.2%	2018	up 4.0%	rising
77	Egypt	49.2%	2018	down 17.7%	rising
79	Djibouti	48.8%	2018	up 5.6%	rising
80	Micronesia (country)	48.6%	2018	up 0.6%	flat
80	Suriname	48.6%	2018	down 0.2%	rising
82	Burkina Faso	48.3%	2018	down 10.1%	flat
83	Gambia	48.1%	2018	down 25.0%	flat
84	Ghana	47.9%	2018	up 29.1%	rising
85	Azerbaijan	47.5%	2018	down 25.5%	falling
85	Bolivia	47.5%	2018	up 5.1%	flat
85	South Africa	47.5%	2018	up 13.1%	rising
88	Rwanda	47.0%	2018	up 24.3%	rising
89	Vanuatu	46.9%	2018	down 3.7%	flat
90	El Salvador	46.5%	2018	down 0.6%	falling
91	Tonga	46.1%	2018	down 0.9%	flat
92	Nicaragua	45.9%	2018	down 6.3%	falling
93	Malawi	45.7%	2018	up 21.5%	rising
94	Belize	45.6%	2018	down 6.0%	flat
95	Armenia	45.5%	2018	down 0.9%	falling
95	French Guiana	45.5%	2018	up 3.2%	rising
97	Solomon Islands	45.4%	2018	up 5.6%	rising
98	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	44.7%	2018	down 15.8%	flat
99	Zambia	44.6%	2018	down 21.5%	rising
100	Comoros	44.5%	2018	up 15.9%	rising
101	Turkey	44.2%	2018	down 15.3%	falling
102	Angola	43.2%	2018	up 18.7%	rising
103	Indonesia	42.9%	2018	down 6.5%	falling
104	Zimbabwe	41.7%	2018	up 2.7%	rising
105	Lesotho	41.5%	2018	up 25.4%	rising
105	Philippines	41.5%	2018	down 19.4%	falling
107	Cameroon	41.3%	2018	down 6.8%	rising
108	South Sudan	41.1%	2018	up 7.6%	rising
109	Mozambique	40.8%	2018	up 72.9%	rising
109	East Timor	40.8%	2018	down 10.1%	falling
111	Botswana	39.5%	2018	down 11.4%	flat
112	Guinea	39.4%	2018	down 2.0%	rising
113	Eswatini	38.9%	2018	down 25.8%	falling
114	Eritrea	38.0%	2018	up 38.7%	flat
115	Togo	37.5%	2018	up 31.6%	rising
116	Tanzania	36.9%	2018	down 4.4%	rising
117	Somalia	35.6%	2018	up 8.9%	rising
118	Guyana	35.1%	2018	down 3.0%	flat
119	Burundi	35.0%	2018	down 0.3%	falling
120	Central African Republic	34.8%	2018	down 0.6%	flat
120	Cote d'Ivoire	34.8%	2018	up 40.3%	rising
122	Mali	33.3%	2018	down 7.0%	rising
122	Nigeria	33.3%	2018	down 16.1%	rising
124	Papua New Guinea	32.9%	2018	up 0.3%	flat
125	Senegal	32.5%	2018	down 30.6%	flat
126	Grenada	32.3%	2018	down 38.7%	falling
127	Benin	30.1%	2018	down 5.6%	flat
128	Chad	29.8%	2018	up 2.8%	flat
129	Niger	29.4%	2018	down 16.7%	rising
130	Ethiopia	27.6%	2018	down 14.6%	falling
131	Guinea-Bissau	23.7%	2018	down 32.3%	flat
132	Mauritania	23.0%	2018	down 7.6%	rising

About this data

Indicator: Share of children with symptoms of a respiratory infection who received antibiotics
Unit: %
Source: Browne AJ et al. (2021) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 132 places, 2,508 data points, 2000–2018
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

The caregiver reported share of children under five years old, with symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection, who received antibiotics for this illness.