The decline to 9.2 million in the number of children dying before the fifth birthday in 2007 follows a global decline in the under-five mortality rate since 1990. The global rate to be reached by 2015 is 31 per 1,000 live births and close to 60 per cent of countries have already reduced child mortality to this level. Most countries (130) are on track to achieve MDG 4.

Rapid declines in under-five mortality (more than 50 percent) have been seen in Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS), and East Asia and the Pacific. However, there remain many countries with high levels of child mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. An analysis of background characteristics in 63 developing countries finds that child mortality is considerably higher among children living in rural areas and in the poorest households.