Trend of Slowing Improvement in Mortality Rates for Children Under 5

by MIKI Yuna | 21 March 2026 | GNV News, Health/medicine

GNV News March 20, 2026

On March 18, 2026, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) released a report on causes of death among children worldwide. According to the report, in 2024 about 4.9 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday, of whom about 2.3 million were newborns. It also states that approximately 2.1 million children aged 5 and over and adolescents lost their lives.

Looking at the causes of death by age group, the main causes of death among newborns are preterm birth, complications during delivery, and neonatal infections. For infants and young children, pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are major causes. Among girls aged 15 to 19, self-harm is the leading cause of death, while among boys in the same age group, it is traffic accidents.

Since 1990, the global neonatal mortality rate has fallen by 45%, and the under-five mortality rate has dropped by 60%, marking significant improvement. However, the pace of decline has slowed. It is estimated that between 2025 and 2030, the number of neonatal deaths will exceed 13 million and deaths of children under five will exceed 27 million, with many of these deaths concentrated in areas where access to quality health services is limited, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the report notes.

There are major regional disparities in child deaths worldwide. For example, while North America and Europe together account for 9% of global under-five deaths, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for about 58% and South Asia for 25%. These figures indicate that children’s health and survival prospects vary greatly depending on where they are born.

The United Nations states that to save children’s lives, it is critical to make children’s lives a political and financial priority, to support people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and conflict-affected areas, and to invest in initiatives that improve infant and young child health.

Learn more about health care and inequality → “Maternal health and global inequality”

Learn more about health care and the media → “The neglected state of global health and medical issues in the news”