Child health
Reducing child mortality to achieve MDG 4: 6.9 million children under five years of age died in 2011 – nearly 19 000 children each day and almost 800 every hour. Progress has been made in recent decades, but is unequally distributed across regions and countries and within countries. Important challenges remain for the global goal to be achieved. About 80 percent of the world’s under-five deaths in 2011 occurred in only 25 countries, and about half in only five countries: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan and China. India (24 percent) and Nigeria (11 percent) together account for more than a third of under-five deaths worldwide.
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Mortality
6.9 millionchildren under five years of age died in 2011, nearly 800 every hour
Under-five mortalityCauses of death
58%of deaths in children under age five are caused by infectious diseases. Pneumonia is the largest single cause of death in under-fives.
Causes of under-five mortalityPreventing under-five deaths
78%of children with suspected pneumonia are taken for treatment to an appropriate care provider
Care seeking for pneumonia
