Variations of Infant and Under-five Child Mortality Rates around the World, the Role of Human Development Index (HDI)

Background: The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income per capita indicators, which apart from measuring the socio-economic development of countries can predict health outcomes. The current study aimed at determination of the effects of HDI individual components on infant and child mortality. Materials and Methods: At a cross- sectional study,data on infant and child mortality rates and values for HDI individual components were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank respectively. The effect of HDI individual components on infant and child mortality were derived from linear regression models. Results: During 1990-2015, infant and child mortality have declined in all countries. Most proportion of child mortality is attributed to death in infants. All HDI individual components significantly  inversely were related to infant mortality rate (IMR) and among them expected years of schooling has the strongest effect with regression coefficient of β= -5.9 (95% CI: -6.63, -5.13). Conclusion: The highest IMRs have been observed for EMRO and AFRO regions of the WHO. Policies targeting women health and empowerment can have a tremendous impact on reducing child mortality rates around the world.