The number of children dying before they reach their fifth birthday has fallen sharply since 2000, but this progress needs to accelerate if the United Nations’ millennium development goal of reducing child mortality is to be reached, new figures show.

A report released by the United Nations’ Children’s Fund (Unicef), the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the UN Population Division says that an estimated 6.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2011, down from 12 million in 1990.1 Although this means there were 14 000 fewer deaths each day in 2011 than in 1990, 19 000 children still die every day.

The figures also show that the annual rate of reduction in under 5 mortality has accelerated: from …