Children under the age of 5 constitute 12% of the Region's population. Between 1990 and 2020, under-5 mortality was reduced by 58% from 102 deaths per 1000 live births to 45 deaths per 100 live births.
There are huge disparities in under-5 mortality between countries and within countries and gains are being reversed by insecurity, war and displacement. A number of global and regional initiatives have accelerated efforts to increase coverage of effective interventions to reduce under-5 mortality, including the United Nations Secretary-General’s "Global strategy for women’s and children’s health", "Global action plan for prevention and control of pneumonia and diarrhoea", "Every newborn action plan" and the regional initiative on saving the lives of mothers and children.
The Sustainable Development Goals have set targets for countries to reduce under-5 mortality to 25 per 1000 live births or less by 2030.
As many as 800 000
children die annually in the Region before their fifth birthday
23%
of under-5 deaths are caused by pneumonia and diarrhoea
97%
of under-5 deaths take place in only 9 countries of the Region
