Prematurity is the top cause of death for young children, followed by lower respiratory infections and birth trauma, the World Health Organization and other groups said in a report released on March 18.
From 2000 to 2024, 174 million children younger than 5 perished, the organizations said, including nine per minute in 2024.
Some 863,530 children died that year as a result of prematurity. Another 658,310 deaths were attributed to lower respiratory infections, or pneumonia. Nearly 500,000 young children died in 2024 from birth asphyxia or birth trauma, according to the report.
Other leading causes of death for that age group were listed as malaria, diarrhea, and congenital anomalies.
For older children, malaria, diarrhea, drowning, cancer, lower respiratory infections, traffic injuries, and self-harm were among the top causes of death.
The majority of 2024 deaths among children younger than 5 were in sub-Saharan Africa, and many of the rest occurred in southern Asia.
Deaths among that population have plummeted over time, to about 5 million in 2024 from about 13 million in 1990. Deaths have also dropped among older children and young adults through the age of 24 across the same time frame, to 2.1 million in 2024.
But progress in preventing premature deaths has slowed, causing concern, according to officials with the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and the World Bank.
“No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent,” Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, a U.N. agency that provides humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, said in a statement. “But we see worrying signs that progress in child survival is slowing—and at a time where we’re seeing further global budget cuts.
“History has shown what is possible when the world commits to protecting its children. With sustained investment and political will, we can continue to build on those achievements for future generations.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, called for the protection of “essential health and nutrition services,” saying that “the world has made remarkable progress in saving children’s lives, but many still die from preventable causes.”
The groups are recommending that governments, donors, and others work to prioritize child health and survival by improving access to “evidence-based, quality services that are affordable for all.”
They propose focusing on children at the highest risk, particularly children and mothers in sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia, and in settings involving war and other factors that make them fragile; ramping up existing efforts to reduce child deaths; and investing in primary health care systems that assist in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the leading causes of death for children.
