HealthWork in progress
That is the latest rate for India. It has fallen sharply from 241.3 in 1960.
In 2024, 26.6 out of every 1,000 children born in India died before reaching age five. This number comes from the World Bank. The WHO’s estimate for 2023 is similar: 27.82 per 1,000 live birthsper 1,000 live birthsThis is the unit. It means out of every 1,000 babies born alive in a year. It is not per 1,000 people. It makes comparison across countries fair because it accounts for different birth rates.You need to understand this unit to read the charts correctly. A rate of 26.6 means that if you took 1,000 newborns, about 27 would die before age five.. That means about 2.8% of children – roughly one in 36 – do not survive five years.
It shows that most under-five deaths occur in the first year, giving context to the main number.
WHO GHO
It shows that most under-five deaths occur in the first year, giving context to the main number.
How to read it The rate is 24.5 per 1,000 live births in 2023, close to the under-five rate of 27.8. The line shows a similar downward trend.
Watch out Do not add the infant and neonatal rates – they overlap. Infant includes neonatal.
The under-five mortality rate counts the number of children who die before their fifth birthday for every 1,000 live births in a given year. It is not a percentage of all children but a rate per thousand. It is a standard global measure of child health and survival. A lower rate means more children live.
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
World Bank
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
How to read it The line goes from 241.3 in 1960 down to 26.6 in 2024. Each tick is a year. The steeper the line, the faster the fall.
Watch out Do not treat this as a percentage. It is per 1,000 live births. Also note the y-axis may not start at zero, which can exaggerate changes.
India’s progress is striking. In 1960, the rate was 241.3 per 1,000 – nearly one in four children. By 2024, it had fallen to 26.6. The World Bank data shows steady improvement. The UN projects further decline to 22.34 per 1,000 by 2030 (median scenario). The OWID data, which expresses the same rate as a percentage, shows 33.3% in 1911 and 2.8% in 2023.
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
Under-five mortality rate · first to latest point
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
How to read it The line goes from 241.3 in 1960 down to 26.6 in 2024. Each tick is a year. The steeper the line, the faster the fall.
Watch out Do not treat this as a percentage. It is per 1,000 live births. Also note the y-axis may not start at zero, which can exaggerate changes.
Most under-five deaths happen in the first year. The infant mortalityinfant mortalityDeaths in the first year of life, per 1,000 live births. It is a subset of under-five mortality. Most under-five deaths happen in infancy.It helps break down the under-five number: the infant mortality rate is close to the under-five rate, meaning most child deaths occur very early. rate (deaths before age one) was 24.5 per 1,000 in 2023 (WHO). That means 24.5 of the 27.8 under-five deaths occur in infancy. The neonatal mortality rate (deaths in the first 28 days) was 30.78 per 1,000 in 2015 (WHO) – earlier data, but it shows that about half of infant deaths occur in the newborn period.
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
Under-five mortality rate · added during each period
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
How to read it The line goes from 241.3 in 1960 down to 26.6 in 2024. Each tick is a year. The steeper the line, the faster the fall.
Watch out Do not treat this as a percentage. It is per 1,000 live births. Also note the y-axis may not start at zero, which can exaggerate changes.
Yes, sharply. The WHO provides a breakdown by wealth quintile for 2023. In the poorest 20% of households, the under-five mortality rate is 42.2 per 1,000. In the richest 20%, it is 14.3 per 1,000.
That is a three-fold difference. Even the second-poorest quintile has a rate of 32.3, while the fourth quintile is at 22.6. National averages mask these gaps.
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
WHO GHO
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
How to read it The line goes from 241.3 in 1960 down to 26.6 in 2024. Each tick is a year. The steeper the line, the faster the fall.
Watch out Do not treat this as a percentage. It is per 1,000 live births. Also note the y-axis may not start at zero, which can exaggerate changes.
The under-five mortality rate is an estimate. The WHO data has uncertainty ranges: for India’s 2023 rate of 27.82, the 95% uncertainty interval is 23.89 to 32.14. Also, these are UN IGME estimates – not the official India statistics. India’s Sample Registration System (SRS) is the official source.
This page does not include SRS data. Additionally, the rate does not tell us why children die – causes like pneumonia, diarrhoea, or malnutrition are not shown here.
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
UN Population
This is the main chart answering the page question: it shows the trend from 1960 to 2024.
How to read it The line goes from 241.3 in 1960 down to 26.6 in 2024. Each tick is a year. The steeper the line, the faster the fall.
Watch out Do not treat this as a percentage. It is per 1,000 live births. Also note the y-axis may not start at zero, which can exaggerate changes.
India has cut child deaths dramatically from 241 to 27 per 1,000. But that progress is uneven. A child born into the poorest fifth of families is three times more likely to die before age five than one in the richest fifth. Closing that gap is the next challenge.
Tell me what this means, bro
Translation: the main number to hold in your head is 26.6 in 2024. The useful comparison number is 2,023 in 2023. The chart is useful, but do not convert it into a WhatsApp forward. Read the caveat before the confidence.
Built from 14 local data artifacts, not live model memory.
Plain English concepts
It counts how many children die before their fifth birthday out of every 1,000 babies born alive in a year. It is not a percentage but a rate per thousand. It captures overall child survival and is used by global health agencies to track progress. It does not tell us why children die.
This is the main number answering the page question. It shows how many children are lost and how that number has changed.
This is the unit. It means out of every 1,000 babies born alive in a year. It is not per 1,000 people. It makes comparison across countries fair because it accounts for different birth rates.
You need to understand this unit to read the charts correctly. A rate of 26.6 means that if you took 1,000 newborns, about 27 would die before age five.
Deaths in the first year of life, per 1,000 live births. It is a subset of under-five mortality. Most under-five deaths happen in infancy.
It helps break down the under-five number: the infant mortality rate is close to the under-five rate, meaning most child deaths occur very early.
Bhuvanesh. “How many Indian children die before age five?” This Indian Life, October 2026. https://thisindianlife.today/articles/how-many-indian-children-die-before-age-five/
@misc{tilife-howmanyindianchildrendiebeforeagefive,
author = {Bhuvanesh},
title = {How many Indian children die before age five?},
year = {2026},
publisher = {This Indian Life},
url = {https://thisindianlife.today/articles/how-many-indian-children-die-before-age-five/}
} Bhuvanesh. (2026). How many Indian children die before age five? This Indian Life. https://thisindianlife.today/articles/how-many-indian-children-die-before-age-five/
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