Levels and trends in child mortality. Report 2012. Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

New estimates in Levels and Trends in Child Mortality Report 2015 released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) indicate that although the global progress has been substantial 16000 children under five still die every day. And the 53 per cent drop in child mortality is not enough to meet the Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds reduction between 1990 and 2015. Between 1990 and 2015 62 of the 195 countries with available estimates met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 target of a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate between 1990 and 2015. Among them 24 are low- and lower-middle income countries. The remarkable decline in under-five mortality since 2000 has saved the lives of 48 million children under age five -- children who would not have survived to see their fifth birthday if the under-five mortality rate from 2000 onward remained at the same level as in 2000. Most child deaths are caused by diseases that are readily preventable or treatable with proven cost-effective and quality-delivered interventions. Infectious diseases and neonatal complications are responsible for the vast majority of under-five deaths globally. An acceleration of the pace of progress is urgently required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target on child survival particularly in high mortality countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This new report is accompanied by a Lancet paper available online (Global regional and national levels and trends in under-5 mortality between 1990 and 2015 with scenario-based projections to 2030: a systematic analysis by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation).