18,000 children under 5 die each day, UN figures show

Death rates for children under five have halved in some regions since 1990, but about 6.6 million still are thought to have died last year, according to a new report issued by Unicef.

The UN children’s agency says the highest death rates are in Africa and Asia and nearly half of all children who die are in five countries: Nigeria, Congo, India, Pakistan and China. In West and Central Africa, there has been virtually no change in the number of children who die every year since 1990.