Progress in the Global Fight Against Child Mortality

Even though the world has made progress in reducing the mortality rate of children under the age of one, infant deaths continue to be prevalent in developing countries. Especially post-neonatal deaths - those occurring between the ages of 2 and 11 months - continue with a higher prevalence in lower-income countries, the same as deaths between the ages of 1 and 4 years.

According to UNICEF, the majority of child deaths under age 5 are preventable. Major reasons for them include pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, while preterm birth and complications during delivery are also big factors for the deaths of younger children. North America and the United States specifically are an outlier in the statistic, ranking behind Europe and other high-income nations for all types of child mortality. The country's infant mortality rate stood at 5.4 in 2021, according to UNICEF calculations, behind China's and close to the rates of Sri Lanka, Romania, Bulgaria and Chile. In 2022, infant mortality in the country rose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday.

According to the data, infants in the African countries of Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Somalia and Nigeria have the greatest risk of not reaching their first birthday. Mortality rates exceed 70 in 1,000 live births in all four nations. Pakistan is the lowest ranked country not on the African continent at 52.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

Estonia is at the opposite end of the spectrum with an infant mortality rate of 1.6 per 1,000 live births, the highest-ranked non-micro nation. Japan ranked second, sharing with Singapore, followed by Norway, Finland and Slovenia in rank 3.