According to the report – Levels & Trends in Child Mortality – under-five deaths globally have fallen by more than half since 2000. However, since 2015, the pace of reduction in child mortality has slowed by more than 60 per cent.
For the first time, the report estimates deaths directly caused by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), finding that more than 100 000 children aged 1-59 months – or 5 per cent – died from it in 2024. The toll is far greater when indirect effects are considered, as malnutrition weakens children’s immunity and increases their risk of dying from common childhood diseases.
Newborn deaths account for nearly half of all under-five deaths, reflecting slower progress in preventing deaths around the time of birth. Leading causes among newborns were complications from preterm birth (36 per cent) and complications during labour and delivery (21 per cent). Infections, including neonatal sepsis and congenital anomalies, were also important causes.
Child deaths remain heavily concentrated in a small number of regions. In 2024, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 58 per cent of all under-five deaths. In the region, the leading infectious diseases were responsible for 54 per cent of all under-five deaths. In Europe and Northern America this proportion drops to 9 per cent and in Australia and New Zealand, drops further to 6 per cent. These stark disparities reflect unequal access to proven, life-saving interventions.
Fragile and conflict-affected countries continue to bear a disproportionate share of the burden. Children born in these settings are nearly three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than those elsewhere.
Shifts in the global development financing landscape are placing critical maternal, newborn, and child health programmes under growing pressure. Surveys, health information systems, and the core functions that underpin effective care all need sustained funding not only to protect the progress made, but to accelerate it.
To accelerate progress and save lives, governments, donors, and partners must:
make child survival a political and financing priority, with political commitment from high-burden countries to mobilize domestic resources, and improve access to evidence-based, quality services that are affordable for all;focus on those at highest risk, especially mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, and in conflict and fragile settings;strengthen accountability for existing commitments to reduce maternal, newborn, and child deaths, including transparent data collection, tracking, and reporting; andinvest in primary health care systems to prevent, diagnose and treat the leading causes of death in children, including through community health workers and skilled care at birth.“The world has made remarkable progress in saving children’s lives, but many still die from preventable causes,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Children living amid conflict and crisis are nearly three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday. We must protect essential health and nutrition services and reach the most vulnerable families so every child has the chance not only to survive, but to thrive.”
“The latest estimates from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation are a stark reminder that progress on child survival is slowing and too many countries are off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Mr. Li Junhua. “We know how to prevent these deaths. What is needed now is renewed political commitment, sustained investment in primary health care, and stronger data systems to ensure no child is left behind.”
Notes to editors
* This is made possible by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) unifying global child mortality and cause-of-death data in its flagship report, through the full integration of estimates from the Child and Adolescent Causes of Death Estimation (CA CODE) group – a research consortium led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
About UN IGMEThe United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation or UN IGME was formed in 2004 to share data on child mortality, improve methods for child mortality estimation, report on progress towards child survival goals and enhance the capacity of countries to produce timely and properly evaluated estimates of child mortality. UN IGME is led by UNICEF and includes the World Health Organization, the World Bank Group and the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. For more information: www.childmortality.org/
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