The main thing it shows about that country is that the basic health needs of the people are not being met. This includes the following...
Bad Medical Care is probably the most important. Children are the most fragile and a small cold or infection can cause serious complications in a child's defenses. With proper medical care minor diseases such as the common cold can be easily treated. A high mortality rate indicates that proper medical care is not being provided and children are dying from easily treated diseases.
Lack of Nutrition, this plays a huge role in the mortality rate of a country. Proper nutrition is vital for a child/infant to be able to develop a strong and healthy defense system. Lack of nutrition can cause various complications in a childs development and lead to many illnesses which can cause death if the child is weak.
Bad Sanitation also ties into infant mortality rate. Bad higiene and sanitation leads to bacteria and viruses spreading much faster. This, combined with low defenses from bad higiene can quickly cause infections and diseases to spread and drastically increase the infant mortality rate of a country.
