A. Global distribution of deaths among children under age 5, by cause, 2018
A. Global distribution of deaths among children under age 5, by cause, 2018
Note: Estimates are rounded and therefore may not total 100 per cent.
Source: WHO and Maternal and Child Epidemiology Estimation Group (MCEE) interim
estimates produced in September 2019, applying cause fractions for the year 2017 to UN IGME
estimates for the year 2018.
Global Facts
According to World Health Organization (WHO):
- 5.3 million children under the age of five years died in 2018
- More than half of these early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions.
- Leading causes of death in children under-5 years are preterm birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhea and malaria.
- The risk of a child dying before completing five years of age is still high in the WHO African Region (76 per 1000 live births), this is around 8 times higher than the WHO European Region.
- In 2018, the under-five mortality rate in low-income countries was 68 deaths per 1000 live births – almost 14 times the average rate in high-income countries.
