Palau: Births attended by skilled health staff (% of total)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, Palau's births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) fell 2.8 percentage points on 2019 (from 100% to 97.2%).

Across the 13 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2019), the average change was +0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.97 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.9 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 1.7 percentage points in 2013 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.8 percentage points in 2020. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2020 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains less than 1% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2020, Palau had the 23rd highest value of the 29 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Palau in the 2020 ranking

• Canada — 20th of 29: 98%
• Guyana — 21st of 29: 97.6%
• Iceland — 22nd of 29: 97.4%
• Malawi — 24th of 29: 96.4%
• Australia — 25th of 29: 96%
• Belize — 26th of 29: 94.6%

What this measures

Births attended by skilled health staff are the percentage of deliveries attended by personnel trained to give the necessary supervision, care, and advice to women during pregnancy, labor, and the postpartum period; to conduct deliveries on their own; and to care for newborns.

Limitations: For the indicators that are from household surveys, the year refers to the survey year. For more information, consult the original sources.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 20 values

Births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) in nearby economies

• Australia — 96% (2020)
• Brunei Darussalam — 99.6% (2021)
• Cambodia — 98.7% (2022)
• China — 99.9% (2016)
• Fiji — 99.8% (2021)
• Indonesia — 94.7% (2019)
• Japan — 99.8% (2021)
• Kiribati — 91.9% (2019)
• Malaysia — 99.6% (2019)
• Mongolia

More health data for Palau

• Population ages 00-04, female (% of female population) — 5.65% (2025)
• Population ages 00-04, male (% of male population) — 5.21% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female — 1,507 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, female (% of female population) — 18.48% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male — 1,661 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, male (% of male population) — 17.47% (2025)
• Population ages 0-14, total — 3,168 (2025)
• Population ages 0-14 (% of total population) — 17.94% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, female (% of female population) — 6.08% (2025)
• Population ages 05-09, male (% of male population)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Palau's births attended by skilled health staff (% of total)?

97.2% in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1990?

It is down 2.8 percentage points from 100% in 1990. The highest value was 100% in 1990 and the lowest 97.2% in 2020.

How does Palau rank?

23rd highest of 29 economies with data for 2020.

Is the latest change in births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) unusual for Palau?

In 2020, Palau's births attended by skilled health staff (% of total) fell 2.8 percentage points on 2019 (from 100% to 97.2%). Across the 13 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2019), the average change was +0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.97 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.9 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SH.STA.BRTC.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: State of the World's Children, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF); Childinfo, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF); Demographic and Health Surveys, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.