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.
Global Child Mortality Rate Has Fallen 47% Since 1990
Description
This chart shows the under-five mortality rate per 1,000 births from 1990 to 2012.
