(Skolnik, 2019)
Life expectancy
(Worldometer.info, 2021)
As of 2020, the life expectancy at birth, combined male and female, is 65 years in Haiti.
-
Male: 62.8 years
-
Female: 67.2 years
("Life Expectancy," n.d)
('Life Expectancy", n.d)
The graphic above shows a comparison study done by Worldbank.org which shows the differences in life expectancy at brith between the United States (US) and Haiti. Life expectancy in the US is approximately 79 years compared to Haiti's 65 years.
This graphic is particularly interesting to me because you can see how huge the gap is between the life expectancies of the two countries. The US has remained relatively steady with their life expectancy since 1960 only rising from 70 years to 79 years. Whereas Haiti has seen exponential growth, in 1960 average life expectancy was 42 years and is now 65 years - a 23 year difference! ("Life expectancy," n.d).
Infant Mortality & Under 5 mortality rate
(Worldometer.info, 2021)
Infant mortality is a good indicator of the health status of a country (Skolnik, 2019). Under 5 mortality is highly dependent on wealth of a country. Higher income countries tend to have lower child and infant mortality rates (Skolnik, 2019).
​
Both Haiti's infant mortality and deaths under age 5 have drastically decreased in the last 70 years (Worldometer, 2021). Infant mortality has gone from 221 per 1,000 to 48 and deaths under 5 have gone from 331 per 1,000 to 71.6 (worldometer, 2021).
HAITI
US
Infant mortality rate
50.5
deaths
5.6
deaths
Neonatal mortality rate
25.3
deaths
3.7
deaths
Under-5 mortality rate
62.8
deaths
6.98
deaths
maternal mortality rate
521
Deaths
50.5
deaths
Life
expectancy
65
years
79
years
Per 100,000 Live Births
Per 1,000 Live Births
("Free data & statistics", 2021)
According to UNICEF, the neonatal, infant, child, and maternal mortality rates in Haiti are the highest in the Western Hemisphere, with rates similar to those found in Afghanistan and several African countries (Jacobs, 2016). Moreover, the Human Capital Index reports that a child born today in Haiti will grow up to be only 45% as productive as they could be if he or she had enjoyed full education and health ("The World Bank in Haiti", 2021). Nevertheless, while the rates of Haiti's health indicators have improved in the last 30 years, their rates are undoubtedly still lagging behind the United States. Massive natural disasters, fragile health care infrastructure and low access to preventative care in a country where half of the population lives in extreme poverty results in a domino effect of having a high mortality rate and shorter life expectancy ("Free data & statistics", 2021).