Child mortality in Africa 1955-2020

The child mortality rate in Africa has steadily declined over the past seven decades. Between 1950 and 1955, child mortality was estimated at 311 deaths per thousand births, meaning that almost one third of all children born in these years did not make it to their fifth birthday. By 2020, this number has fallen significantly, to an estimated 71 deaths per thousand births in 2020. While the reduction rate varies on a country-by-country basis, the overall decline can be attributed in large part to the expansion of healthcare services, improvements in nutrition and access to clean drinking water, and the implementation of large scale immunization campaigns across the continent. The temporary slowdown in the 1990s has been attributed in part to rapid urbanization of many parts of the continent that coincided with poor economic performance, resulting in the creation of overcrowded slums with poor access to health and sanitation services. Despite significant improvements in the continent-wide averages, there remains a significant imbalance in the continent, with Sub-Saharan countries experiencing much higher child mortality rates than those in North Africa.