Fall in child mortality rates, Unicef figures reveal

THE number of children dying under the age of five each year globally has plummeted to a record low, marking “an historic moment”, a charity said yesterday.

New figures from Unicef — drawn from a range of national data sources — show the number of deaths has fallen below 10 million for the first time, to 9.7 million.

In 1990, around 13 million children worldwide died before the age of five.