Context

More than six million children under 15 years of age died in 2017 as per new mortality estimates released by a combined report of UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.

• For India, under five mortality rate, for the first time has been estimated at 39 deaths per 1,000 live births, the same as the global average.

About

Worldwide:

• For the children anywhere born, most risky period of life is first month.
  a. A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa or in South Asia was nine timesmore likely to die in the first month than a baby born in a high-income country.
• For children under 5 years:
  a. Most children under 5 die due to preventable or treatable causes such as complications during birth, pneumonia, diarrhoea, neonatal sepsis and malaria.
  b. Progress towards saving newborns has been slower than for children under five years of age since 1990.
  c. Globally, in 2017, half of all deaths under five years of age took place in Sub-Saharan Africa, and another 30% in Southern Asia.
  d. Within countries, disparities persist- Under-five mortality rates among children in rural areas are, on average, 50% higher than among children in urban areas.
  e. Without urgent action, 56 million children under five will die from now until 2030 – half of them newborns.

For children aged between 5 and 14 years

• Injuries become a more prominent cause of death, especially from drowning and road traffic.
• Within this age group, regional differences exist, with the risk of dying for a child from sub-Saharan Africa 15 times higher than in Europe.

  India:

• India’s share of global child deaths (under 15), for the first time, equals its share in the global birth cohort.
  a. India accounts for 18 per cent of global births, and now also 18 per cent of global child deaths following a steady decline from 22 per cent in 2012.
• The under-five mortality of the girl child is 2.5 per cent higher (40 deaths per 1,000 live births) than the under-five mortality of the boy child (39 deaths per 1,000 live births).
• This gender gap has reduced significantly given that the difference was nearly 10 per cent in 2012.

Significance

World has made remarkable progress to save children since 1990, but millions are still dying because of who they are and where they are born.