Infant health: low birthweight by country
This dataset presents time series on the number of live births weighing less than 2500 grams as a percentage of the total number of live births. Please refer to the Sources and Methods for detailed country-specific information.
What the numbers show
Infant health: low birthweight is currently reported for 41 countries. The highest value is 27.4 Percentage of live births in India; the lowest is 3.5 Percentage of live births in Iceland.
The median across all reporting countries is 7.2 Percentage of live births, and the mean is 7.87 Percentage of live births.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 8.
Over the past decade 16 countries rose and 22 fell. The largest increase was in Mexico (up 31.6%), and the largest decrease in Iceland (down 20.5%).
Infant health: low birthweight: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 27.4 Percentage of live births | 2020 | down 8.7% | falling |
| 2 | South Africa | 16.6 Percentage of live births | 2020 | down 0.6% | flat |
| 3 | Colombia | 11 Percentage of live births | 2025 | up 25.0% | rising |
| 4 | Thailand | 10.3 Percentage of live births | 2020 | down 2.8% | falling |
| 5 | Indonesia | 9.9 Percentage of live births | 2020 | down 6.6% | falling |
| 6 | Japan | 9.8 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 3.2% | rising |
| 6 | Greece | 9.8 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 8.9% | rising |
| 8 | Bulgaria | 9.4 Percentage of live births | 2024 | unchanged | rising |
| 9 | Costa Rica | 8.8 Percentage of live births | 2023 | up 20.5% | rising |
| 10 | Brazil | 8.7 Percentage of live births | 2020 | up 4.8% | rising |
| 11 | United States | 8.5 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 6.2% | rising |
| 12 | Portugal | 8.3 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 4.6% | rising |
| 13 | Romania | 8.1 Percentage of live births | 2024 | unchanged | falling |
| 14 | Hungary | 8 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 10.1% | falling |
| 15 | Chile | 7.6 Percentage of live births | 2025 | up 20.6% | rising |
| 16 | France | 7.5 Percentage of live births | 2024 | unchanged | rising |
| 16 | Mexico | 7.5 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 31.6% | falling |
| 18 | Argentina | 7.4 Percentage of live births | 2020 | up 2.8% | flat |
| 19 | Spain | 7.3 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 6.4% | rising |
| 19 | Russia | 7.3 Percentage of live births | 2020 | up 1.4% | flat |
| 21 | United Kingdom | 7.2 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 4.3% | rising |
| 21 | Canada | 7.2 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 14.3% | falling |
| 23 | New Zealand | 7 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 20.7% | flat |
| 24 | Israel | 6.7 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 14.1% | flat |
| 24 | Peru | 6.7 Percentage of live births | 2025 | down 16.2% | falling |
| 24 | Italy | 6.7 Percentage of live births | 2025 | down 9.5% | rising |
| 27 | Australia | 6.6 Percentage of live births | 2023 | up 3.1% | rising |
| 27 | Germany | 6.6 Percentage of live births | 2013 | down 2.9% | rising |
| 27 | Czechia | 6.6 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 15.4% | rising |
| 30 | Belgium | 6.4 Percentage of live births | 2023 | down 8.6% | rising |
| 31 | Ukraine | 6.3 Percentage of live births | 2024 | up 6.8% | flat |
| 32 | Luxembourg | 6.1 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 7.6% | rising |
| 33 | Ireland | 6 Percentage of live births | 2023 | up 7.1% | rising |
| 33 | Switzerland | 6 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 6.2% | rising |
| 35 | Austria | 5.8 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 12.1% | rising |
| 36 | China, People's Republic of | 5 Percentage of live births | 2020 | down 3.8% | falling |
| 37 | Denmark | 4.6 Percentage of live births | 2025 | down 6.1% | falling |
| 38 | Norway | 4.4 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 4.3% | rising |
| 39 | Sweden | 4.1 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 4.7% | falling |
| 40 | Finland | 3.9 Percentage of live births | 2024 | down 7.1% | falling |
| 41 | Iceland | 3.5 Percentage of live births | 2025 | down 20.5% | rising |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovak Republic 8.2 Percentage of live births
- Korea 7.8 Percentage of live births
- Netherlands 5.6 Percentage of live births
- Poland 5.4 Percentage of live births
- Slovenia 5.4 Percentage of live births
- Croatia 5.4 Percentage of live births
- Lithuania 4.3 Percentage of live births
- Latvia 4.2 Percentage of live births
- Estonia 4.1 Percentage of live births
About this data
This dataset presents time series on the number of live births weighing less than 2500 grams as a percentage of the total number of live births. Please refer to the Sources and Methods for detailed country-specific information.