Resting Respiratory Rate Norm Calculator

About this calculator

Normal resting respiratory rate — breaths per minute while at rest — changes dramatically with age: a newborn breathes around 30-60 times per minute, a toddler around 20-30, a school-age child around 18-25, and an adult typically settles into 12-20 breaths per minute. This wide age dependence is why a rate that's completely normal for an infant would be alarming in an adult, and vice versa.

Nurses and pediatricians use age-specific respiratory rate ranges as a routine vital-sign check, since respiratory rate is one of the earliest indicators to change when someone is developing a fever, respiratory infection, or in more serious cases, sepsis or respiratory distress — clinical early-warning scores like PEWS (Pediatric Early Warning Score) weight an abnormal respiratory rate heavily precisely because it tends to shift before other vitals do.

This calculator takes an age and a measured breathing rate and compares it against the normal range for that age group.