Global Child Mortality Rate by Country (1751–2023)

Under-five mortality rates for 213 countries from 1751 to 2023, tracking the decline from 43% to 3.7% globally.
# Entity
Code
Year
Under-five mortality rate (selected)
1 Afghanistan AFG 1957 37.13
2 Afghanistan AFG 1958 36.52
3 Afghanistan AFG 1959 35.95
4 Afghanistan AFG 1960 35.32
5 Afghanistan AFG 1961 34.76
6 Afghanistan AFG 1962 34.23
7 Afghanistan AFG 1963 33.68
8 Afghanistan AFG 1964 33.17
9 Afghanistan AFG 1965 32.65
10 Afghanistan AFG 1966 32.15
11 Afghanistan AFG 1967 31.66
12 Afghanistan AFG 1968 31.16
13 Afghanistan AFG 1969 30.64
14 Afghanistan AFG 1970 30.16
15 Afghanistan AFG 1971 29.65
16 Afghanistan AFG 1972 29.14
17 Afghanistan AFG 1973 28.59
18 Afghanistan AFG 1974 28.06
19 Afghanistan AFG 1975 27.52
20 Afghanistan AFG 1976 26.97
21 Afghanistan AFG 1977 26.38
22 Afghanistan AFG 1978 25.79
23 Afghanistan AFG 1979 25.19
24 Afghanistan AFG 1980 24.57
25 Afghanistan AFG 1981 23.94
26 Afghanistan AFG 1982 27.99
27 Afghanistan AFG 1983 27.44
28 Afghanistan AFG 1984 30.91
29 Afghanistan AFG 1985 30.09
30 Afghanistan AFG 1986 25.31
31 Afghanistan AFG 1987 24.72
32 Afghanistan AFG 1988 21.84
33 Afghanistan AFG 1989 18.71
34 Afghanistan AFG 1990 18.07
35 Afghanistan AFG 1991 17.44
36 Afghanistan AFG 1992 16.85
37 Afghanistan AFG 1993 16.3
38 Afghanistan AFG 1994 15.77
39 Afghanistan AFG 1995 15.28
40 Afghanistan AFG 1996 14.83
41 Afghanistan AFG 1997 14.41
42 Afghanistan AFG 1998 13.99
43 Afghanistan AFG 1999 13.58
44 Afghanistan AFG 2000 13.17
45 Afghanistan AFG 2001 12.74
46 Afghanistan AFG 2002 12.31
47 Afghanistan AFG 2003 11.87
48 Afghanistan AFG 2004 11.42
49 Afghanistan AFG 2005 10.97
50 Afghanistan AFG 2006 10.51
51 Afghanistan AFG 2007 10.07
52 Afghanistan AFG 2008 9.63
53 Afghanistan AFG 2009 9.22
54 Afghanistan AFG 2010 8.83
55 Afghanistan AFG 2011 8.46
56 Afghanistan AFG 2012 8.12
57 Afghanistan AFG 2013 7.8
58 Afghanistan AFG 2014 7.51
59 Afghanistan AFG 2015 7.24
60 Afghanistan AFG 2016 7
61 Afghanistan AFG 2017 6.76
62 Afghanistan AFG 2018 6.54
63 Afghanistan AFG 2019 6.33
64 Afghanistan AFG 2020 6.13
65 Afghanistan AFG 2021 5.93
66 Afghanistan AFG 2022 5.74
67 Afghanistan AFG 2023 5.55
68 Africa OWID_AFR 1966 25.95
69 Africa OWID_AFR 1967 25.34
70 Africa OWID_AFR 1968 24.73
71 Africa OWID_AFR 1969 24.39
72 Africa OWID_AFR 1970 24
73 Africa OWID_AFR 1971 23.61
74 Africa OWID_AFR 1972 23.27
75 Africa OWID_AFR 1973 22.76
76 Africa OWID_AFR 1974 22.02
77 Africa OWID_AFR 1975 21.51
78 Africa OWID_AFR 1976 20.7
79 Africa OWID_AFR 1977 20.19
80 Africa OWID_AFR 1978 19.68
81 Africa OWID_AFR 1979 19.18
82 Africa OWID_AFR 1980 18.78
83 Africa OWID_AFR 1981 18.3
84 Africa OWID_AFR 1982 17.89
85 Africa OWID_AFR 1983 18.27
86 Africa OWID_AFR 1984 17.86
87 Africa OWID_AFR 1985 17.45
88 Africa OWID_AFR 1986 16.98
89 Africa OWID_AFR 1987 16.18
90 Africa OWID_AFR 1988 16.24
91 Africa OWID_AFR 1989 15.64
92 Africa OWID_AFR 1990 15.42
93 Africa OWID_AFR 1991 15.5
94 Africa OWID_AFR 1992 15.35
95 Africa OWID_AFR 1993 14.91
96 Africa OWID_AFR 1994 14.8
97 Africa OWID_AFR 1995 14.43
98 Africa OWID_AFR 1996 14.18
99 Africa OWID_AFR 1997 13.89
100 Africa OWID_AFR 1998 13.69

Global Child Mortality Rate by Country (1751–2023) — Analysis

Global child mortality fell 91% since 1800 — from 43% to 3.7% in 2023

A 79x gap persists: Niger loses 11.5% of children under 5, while San Marino loses 0.14%

Key Findings

  • The world average under-5 mortality rate was flat at ~43% for over a century (1751–1900), then fell rapidly after 1950
  • China achieved a 98% reduction (30.9% → 0.6%) between 1960 and 2023, one of the largest improvements globally
  • Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter: all 10 worst-performing countries in 2023 are in the region
  • The gap between high-income and low-income countries narrowed from 26× in 1960 to 10× in 2023, but is still enormous
  • Chad and Central African Republic saw the slowest progress since 1960, improving only 62–67%

Visualizations

Under-5 Mortality by Income Group
Lowest Child Mortality Countries (2023)
Highest Child Mortality Countries (2023)
Divergent Paths: 5 Countries Compared (1960–2023)

Expand Analysis

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