Your trusted source

According to the joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Azerbaijan is the leader in terms of child mortality in the South Caucasus. The report is published on the website of UNICEF.

Compared to 1990, the child mortality rate in Azerbaijan has been reduced from 105 to 52 per 1,000 people. However, it remains the worst indicator in the region. In the regional table Azerbaijan is on the 32th place, Georgia is on the 12th, and Armenia on the 14th. It is expected, that Azerbaijan will reach some improvement of the situation only in 2030.

Among the former Soviet Union countries, the situation is worse only in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The highest child mortality rates in Western and Central Africa. The lowest child mortality rates in the countries of Northern and Western Europe - Luxembourg, Iceland, Finland and Norway.

Child mortality rates have plummeted to less than half of what they were in 1990, according to the new report. Under-five deaths have dropped from 12.7 million per year in 1990 to 5.9 million in 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.
Although the global progress has been substantial, 16,000 children under 5 still die every day. A massive 45% of under-five deaths occur in the neonatal period – the first 28 days of life.

UNICEF experts also named the main causes of child mortality: pneumonia, diarrhea, neonatal sepsis, neonatal complications, and malaria. Now the SDG target with an under five mortality rate of 25 or fewer deaths per 1,000 live births.

According to the Azerbaijani media, the statistics of the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan are different from the international report. For example, in 2014 child mortality rate was 10,2 per 1,000 people, and in 2009 the indicator was 11,3. The maternal mortality rate in relation to the 1,000 live births is 14,5.