Overall Rating by Country

The Excel full model below includes data on World Bank Income Group, Region, USD equivalent of money spent on health care per capita, child mortality rate and count of doctors & nurses per 1000 people.

A simplified version of the model with rating level by country is presented here for easy visual reference.

CountryRating Level
Afghanistan4
Albania1
Algeria2
Andorra4
Argentina3
Armenia3
Australia4
Austria4
Azerbaijan5
Bahamas2
Bahrain1
Bangladesh1
Barbados2
Belarus4
Belgium4
Belize1
Benin5
Bhutan2
Bolivia2
Bosnia and Herzegovina1
Botswana3
Brazil2
Bulgaria5
Burkina Faso5
Burundi5
Cambodia2
Cameroon5
Canada3
Chad5
Chile1
China1
Colombia1
Comoros5
Congo4
Costa Rica1
Cote d'Ivoire5
Croatia3
Cuba5
Cyprus2
Denmark4
Djibouti5
Dominican Republic2
Ecuador2
Egypt2
El Salvador1
Estonia3
Ethiopia5
Fiji1
Finland3
France4
Gambia4
Georgia5
Germany4
Ghana4
Greece4
Guinea-Bissau5
Guyana1
Haiti5
Honduras1
Hungary2
Iceland3
India3
Indonesia1
Iran1
Iraq1
Ireland3
Israel3
Italy4
Jamaica1
Japan2
Jordan2
Kazakhstan5
Kenya3
Kiribati4
Kuwait3
Kyrgyzstan3
Latvia3
Lebanon2
Lesotho5
Liberia5
Libya2
Lithuania4
Luxembourg4
Madagascar4
Malawi5
Malaysia1
Maldives2
Mali5
Malta4
Marshall Islands2
Mauritania5
Mauritius1
Mexico1
Moldova3
Monaco4
Mongolia2
Montenegro1
Morocco1
Mozambique5
Myanmar3
Namibia3
Nauru3
Nepal2
Netherlands4
New Zealand3
Nicaragua1
Niger5
Nigeria5
Norway4
Oman2
Pakistan5
Palau2
Panama2
Papua New Guinea3
Paraguay1
Peru1
Philippines2
Poland2
Portugal4
Qatar3
Romania2
Rwanda4
Samoa1
San Marino4
Saudi Arabia2
Senegal4
Serbia2
Seychelles1
Sierra Leone5
Singapore2
Slovakia3
Slovenia2
Solomon Islands1
South Africa3
Spain4
Sri Lanka1
Sudan5
Sweden4
Switzerland4
Tajikistan4
Tanzania5
Thailand1
Togo5
Tonga1
Trinidad and Tobago2
Tunisia1
Turkey2
Turkmenistan5
Tuvalu2
Uganda5
Ukraine3
United Arab Emirates1
United Kingdom3
United States5
Uruguay4
Uzbekistan3
Vanuatu1
Yemen3
Zambia5
Zimbabwe5

Orb Media Global Model: Health Investment and Child Mortality Measures and Calculations

A more detailed reference of how our model was calculated from our data scientist, Heather Krause. 

Difference from the actual child mortality rate and the expected child mortality rate

Orb Media’s statistical model calculates empirical trends in country-level child mortality based on a combination of the year, the money spent on health care from a variety of sources, and  the standardized count of formally certified doctors and nurses. The output of this model is the standardized or “expected” child mortality based on each country’s health care investment and formally certified health care workers. We then use this output to calculate the difference between the actual estimated child mortality rate and the expected estimated child mortality rate. These findings are based on data from 2010–2019, combining as many years as available for each country.

 The difference is the actual raw difference between the two rates.

 

Proportional difference from the actual child mortality rate and the expected child mortality rate

The proportional difference is the change in difference divided by the absolute value of the expected value. This can be of value in order to compare the rates while taking into account the "sizes" of the things being compared.

 

Category rating for raw difference

This is a number-based category that groups countries into cohorts based on the amount we estimate they are over or underperforming in the area of child mortality based on our model. The categories are calculated based on the raw difference between the expected and actual child mortality rate, with “1” designating those who performed above expectations, and “5” designating those who performed below expectations.

 Definitions used

●      Child mortality: Deaths per 1000 live births of children under 5 years old

●      Health care workers: Formally trained doctors and nurses per 1000 people in the country

 Datasets used

World Health Organization (WHO)  1990 - 2019

World Bank World Development Indicators 2000 - 2019

Global Health Data Exchange IHME Data 2000 – 2019

UNICEF Child Health Data 1990 – 2019

UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation 1960 - 2019

 

We’re excited to support your work. In return, we ask that you:

1. Let us know that you’re onboard for reporting on this story. We’ll support you with story updates, access to our journalist and data team, and additional newsroom resources. We can also satisfy any questions you might have.
2. Credit Orb Media’s work (or other graphic sources) including our original data analysis and key findings as appropriate.
3. Share your expected publishing date and link (or PDF if appears in print only) with Orb so we can aggregate, promote and learn from original reporting worldwide. In the future, we’ll pass our algorithmic and framing learnings from the story’s collective performance on to you.
4. This package was published in concert with other media organizations during the week of August 10. However, its evergreen elements remain available for your future use.