A review of infant mortality trends in selected underdeveloped countries: Some new estimates

It is well known that vital statistics in developing nations are deficient. In an attempt to fill the information gap new estimates of mortality levels in infancy and childhood are presented for a sample of countries in Africa Asia and Latin America. The technique used to generate these estimates requires information on child survivorship and some assumptions about the age pattern of mortality. A by-product of the application of the technique is the estimation of past mortality trends. These estimates are valid provided some restrictive assumptions about the functional form of the mortality trends holds true. (Authors)