Global Babies by The Global Fund for Children

With shifting demographics, the burden of child deaths is heaviest in sub-Saharan Africa. Disparities in child survival abound at the country level as well, where the risk of dying before age five for a child born in the highest mortality country is about 67 times higher than in the lowest mortality country, and all five countries with mortality rates above 100 deaths per 1,000 live births are in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2021, 1 in 14 children in sub-Saharan Africa died before reaching their fifth birthday-15 times higher than the risk for children born in high-income countries and 20 years behind the world average, which achieved a 1 in 14 rate by 2001. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region with the highest under-five mortality rate in the world-73 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 2021 alone, roughly 13,800 under-five deaths occurred every day, an intolerably high number of largely preventable child deaths.Ĭhildren continue to face widespread regional and income disparities in their chances of survival. Despite this considerable progress, improving child survival remains a matter of urgent concern. The global under-five mortality rate declined by 59 per cent, from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 38 in 2021. Globally, infectious diseases, including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, remain a leading cause of under-five deaths, along with preterm birth and intrapartum-related complications.

In 2021, 5.0 million children under 5 years of age died. The under-five mortality rate refers to the probability a newborn would die before reaching exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births. Moreover, progress in reducing child mortality rates has been accelerated in the 2000s period compared with the 1990s, with the annual rate of reduction in the global under-five mortality rate increasing from 1.8 per cent in 1990s to 4.0 per cent for 2000-2009 and 2.7 per cent for 2010-2021. The world made remarkable progress in child survival in the past three decades, and millions of children have better survival chances than in 1990-1 in 26 children died before reaching age five in 2021, compared to 1 in 11 in 1990. Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.China, Macao Special Administrative Region.China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.Data by Topic and Country keyboard_arrow_down

Global Babies by The Global Fund for Children