• Recently released Demographic and Health Survey results show that the decrease in infant and child
mortality continued through the mid-1990s. Overall, the average infant mortality rate for the five-year
period before the 1997 survey was 46 per 1,000 live births, and the under-five mortality rate was 58
per 1,000 live births.
• A comparison with estimates for the 1980s indicate that the infant mortality rate declined by about
30 percent and the under-five mortality rate by nearly 40 percent in a ten-year period. The decline in
child mortality (between ages 1 and 5) has been particularly rapid.
• Estimates for island groups show that childhood mortality declined in all regions, and that the decline
has been more rapid in Java-Bali than in the other regions. In Java-Bali, the infant mortality rate has
dropped to 40, whereas it is in the 49–54 range in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and in the Other
Islands group.
• Neonatal mortality now accounts for a large share of under-five mortality: 37 percent of child deaths
occur in the first month of life. Interventions to reduce childhood mortality must pay greater attention
to the determinants of neonatal mortality to maintain the downward trend.
• The survey was conducted just before the economic crisis. The results provide a useful baseline for
future studies for assessing the impact of the crisis on child mortality.