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| Reduction in the infant and under-five mortality rate by at least one third, in pursuit of the goal of reducing it by two thirds by 2015 | Reduce child mortality. Target: Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate |
Child mortality database
The child mortality database contains estimates for infant mortality and under-five mortality calculated by the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.
Please visit child mortality database to access the estimates.
The challenge
In 2007, 9.2 million children born alive across the world died before their fifth birthday. Most of these children lived in developing countries and died from a disease or a combination of diseases that could easily have been prevented or treated – antibiotics for pneumonia, for example, or a simple mix of water, salt and sugar for diarrhoea. Malnutrition contributes to over a third of these deaths.
Child mortality is closely linked to poverty. Advances in infant and child survival have come more slowly in poor countries and to the poorest people in wealthier countries. Improvements in public health services are essential, including safe water and better sanitation. Education, especially for girls and mothers, will also save children's lives. Raising income can help, but little will be achieved unless a greater effort is made to ensure that services reach those who need them most.
Child mortality declined between 1990 and 2007 (U5MR)
Trends in under-five mortality
The decline to 9.2 million in the number of children dying before the fifth birthday, follows a global decline in the under-five mortality rate since 1990. The global rate to be reached by 2015 is 31 per 1,000 live births and close to 60 per cent of countries have already reduced child mortality to this level. Most countries (130) are on track to achieve MDG 4.
9.2 million children died in 2007 before they reached their fifth birthday
The new figures are drawn from a range of national data sources, including household surveys – Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), vital registration and population censuses.
Rapid declines in under-five mortality (more than 50 percent) have been seen in Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS), and East Asia and the Pacific. However, there remain many countries with high levels of child mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. An analysis of background characteristics in 63 developing countries finds that child mortality is considerably higher among children living in rural areas and in the poorest households.
Trends in child mortality
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births), by region (1960–2005)
Indicators
Under-five mortality rate (U5MR)
The under-five mortality rate is the probability (expressed as a rate per 1,000 live births) of a child born in a specified year to die before reaching the age of five if subject to current age-specific mortality rates.
Infant mortality rate (IMR)
The infant mortality rate is the probability (expressed as a rate per 1,000 live births) of a child born in a specified year to die before reaching the age of one if subject to current age-specific mortality rates.
Child mortality is higher among children living in rural areas and in the poorest households
Under-five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) by background characteristics (1998–2006)
References
UNICEF, Progress for Children, 2007
UNICEF, The State of the World's Children, 2009