Global Child Mortality Rate Has Fallen 47% Since 1990

The UN Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation released new estimates of the child mortality rate worldwide, suggesting it has dropped 47 percent since 1990. This represents a decline of 90 deaths per 1,000 births in 1990 to 48 in 2012.

Even though the decline is impressive, it is still short of a Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds reduction. Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest rate of child mortality. The region has an average under-five mortality rate of 98 deaths per 1,000 live births – this figure is 16 times higher than high-income nations.

Together, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia accounted for 81 percent of all child deaths worldwide in 2012. Back in 1990, this figure was 67 percent.