Mortality rate for under-fives drops to six per 1,000

Malta ranks 161st among 195 countries and territories in the under-five mortality rate.

The 195th placing tops the ranking with the lowest mortality rate.

Malta, with an under-five mortality rate of six per 1,000 births, is in the same league as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand and the UK.

These findings result from a Unicef study called The State Of The World's Children 2007.

The top rated countries, with an under-five mortality rate of three per 1,000 births are Singapore, San Marino, Iceland and Andorra.

The worst rated country with 282 deaths per 1,000 births is Sierra Leone.

The under-five mortality rate for Malta fell from 32 per 1,000 in 1970 to 11 per 1,000 in 1990 and to six per 1,000 in 2005.

Infant mortality rate (under one) dropped from nine per 1,000 in 1990 to five per 1,000 in 2005. The neonatal mortality rate in 2000 stood at five per 1,000.

The fertility rate also dropped from 2.1 in 1970 to two in 1990, to 1.5 in 2005, according to the report. The annual growth rate of the Maltese population has gone down from 0.9 per cent between 1970 and 1990 to 0.7 per cent between 1990 and 2005. The crude death rate has gone down from nine per 1,000 in 1970 to eight per 1,000 in 2005.

The crude birth rate has dropped from 17 per 1,000 in 1970 to 15 per 1,000 in 1990 to 10 per 1,000 in 2005. Life expectancy rose from 70 in 1970 to 76 in 1990 to 79 in 2005.

According to the study, the whole population in Malta had access to improved drinking water sources and adequate sanitation facilities.

Over 90 per cent of one-year-old children were immunised against DPT and polio, 86 per cent against measles, 78 per cent against hepatitis B and 83 per cent against haemophilus influenza type B.

The estimated percentage of adults aged 15 to 49 living with HIV at the end of 2005 was 0.1.

According to the study, the adult literacy rate in Malta is 86 per cent for men and 89 per cent for women.

Malta's internet users per 100 people place it second only to Iceland (77 per cent) and at par with Sweden.