GOAL 4:
REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY
Target 4.A:
Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate
Despite population growth, the number of deaths in children under five worldwide declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013, which translates into about 17,000 fewer children dying each day.
Since 2000, measles vaccines have averted over 14 million deaths.
Despite determined global progress in reducing child deaths, an increasing proportion of child deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Four out of every five deaths of children under age five occur in these regions.
As the rate of under-five deaths overall declines, the proportion that occurs during the first month after birth is increasing.
Children born into poverty are almost twice as likely to die before the age of five as those from wealthier families.
Children of educated mothers—even mothers with only primary schooling—are more likely to survive than children of mothers with no education.