UN estimates 4.9 million under-5 deaths in 2024

An estimated 4.9 million children died before age five in 2024, United Nations agencies said, underscoring a global slowdown in mortality reduction even before recent aid cuts.

The estimate was produced by UNICEF, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the UN Population Division. The agencies said most of the deaths were preventable with better access to healthcare and low-cost interventions for complications from pre-term birth and diseases such as malaria.

Preventable child deaths have more than halved since 2000, the agencies said, but progress has slowed since 2015.

In 2022, 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday, followed by 4.8 million in 2023, according to the same group of UN agencies.

A WHO spokesperson said:

“We do see a global slowdown in mortality reduction.”

The spokesperson said conflict, economic instability, climate change and weak health systems were all contributing to stalling progress, and that aid cuts would add to the challenge.

The spokesperson added:

“Together, these pressures risk undermining past achievements and could lead to stagnation – or even reversal – in hard-won child survival gains if not addressed.”

The figures cover 2024, before the United States, followed by other big donors like the United Kingdom and Germany, began cutting their international aid budgets.

Overall, global development assistance for health fell by just under 27% in 2025 compared to 2024, according to a report by the Gates Foundation published at the end of 2025. The foundation warned then that progress on child mortality was going into reverse as a result of the cuts, based on its estimates.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said:

“No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent. But we see worrying signs that progress in child survival is slowing – and at a time where we’re seeing further global budget cuts.”

The agencies said the cuts could also make it harder to track progress due to weakened data collection.

The report is based on UN data as well as estimates from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.