Where do children die youngest?

Click any country to see its child mortality rate — the share of children who die before their fifth birthday.

or click the map

Child mortality rate

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No data

Global average

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Highest

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Lowest

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Overview

Child mortality — the share of children who die before turning five — is one of the clearest measures of a society's health. It has fallen dramatically worldwide, but remains high in the poorest countries.

Key facts

Global child mortality has more than halved since 1990.
The highest rates, above 10%, are in sub-Saharan Africa.
Most child deaths are from preventable causes like infection and malnutrition.

Common questions

What is the child mortality rate?

The share of newborns who die before reaching their fifth birthday, usually expressed as deaths per 100 (or per 1,000) live births. Here it is shown as a percentage.

Why has it fallen so much?

Vaccines, clean water, better nutrition and basic health care have sharply reduced deaths from preventable childhood diseases over recent decades.

Where does the data come from?

The UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME), via Our World in Data.

Sources & methodology

Data from UN IGME (via Our World in Data), compiled via Our World in Data. Global figures are population-weighted across the countries that report this measure; countries without reliable recent data are shown as “no data”.

Last updated: 3 August 2026.