[Mortality rate of children under 5 years of age proposed by UNICEF: critical analysis of its validity as a health indicator].

The relationship between the Mortality Rate for children under age 5 as proposed by UNICEF and classical mortality indicators-infant mortality, mortality rates for children under age 1, for age 1 to 4, mortality for children under 5, and the probability of death from birth to 5 years of age, is evaluated. The theoretical equivalence between the rate and 5q0 is shown by means of a Lexis diagram. Practical evaluation is carried out using data from the 24 areas under analysis in the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality in Childhood. Kendall's Correlation shows high agreement between the rate and classical indicators, mainly for the Coefficient for children under 5 and for infant mortality.