Since gaining its independence 50 years ago, Bangladesh saw its infant mortality rate decline by 85%, an unprecedented success that encourages the authorities to go above and beyond to further reduce the mortality rate among infants, mothers, and young children in the following years.
The World Bank estimates that in 1971, at the time of Bangladesh’s independence, the infant mortality rate reached 141 deaths per 1,000 live births. Today, that rate is stable at 21 deaths per 1,000 live births.
In 2009, the maternal mortality rate was 269 per 100,000 live births. Recently, it stabilized at 165, and the government intends to have less than 50 deaths per 100,000 live births. This goal is aligned with the universal 2030 target of less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and 12 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births. As for the mortality ratio of children (under five years old), Bangladesh has set it to 20 per 1,000 by 2035, almost half the 2030 universal target of 38 child deaths per 1,000. Following its independence, the country focused on maternal health, family planning, and child nutrition and to that effect, there are 3,364 union health and family welfare centers with 2,189 of them offering 24-hour safe delivery facilities every day.
