Global child mortality rates dropped in 2022 but progress slow, UN says

The number of children globally who died before their fifth birthday dropped to a record low of 4.9 million in 2022, but that still represents one death every six seconds, according to new United Nations estimates. While the mortality rate for under-5s has roughly halved since 2000, the world is still behind in the goal of reducing preventable deaths in that age group by 2030, and progress has slowed since 2015, the report, released on Wednesday, found. The numbers represent "an important milestone", said Juan Pablo Uribe, director for health nutrition and population at the World Bank, one of the partners that put together the report alongside Unicef, the U.N. population division and the World Health Organization.