UN Report Ranks Nigeria Highest in Under-Five Mortality — What It Means for Anchor Care's Mission

31 Oct, 2026News

UN Report Ranks Nigeria Highest in Under-Five Mortality — What It Means for Anchor Care's Mission

Abuja, 31 October 2026 — Nigeria recorded the highest under-five mortality rate in the world in 2024, at 115 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to the latest Levels & Trends in Child Mortality report from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), the body led by UNICEF and including the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the UN Population Division. Niger Republic and Somalia followed with 110 and 101 deaths per 1,000 live births respectively.

The report, released in March 2026, estimates that 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday worldwide in 2024 — roughly 13,300 child deaths every day — including 2.3 million newborns who died within their first month of life. Newborn deaths now account for nearly half of all under-five deaths, reflecting slower progress in preventing deaths around the time of birth. Leading causes among newborns were complications from preterm birth (36 per cent) and complications during labour and delivery (21 per cent).

For the first time, the report estimates deaths directly caused by severe acute malnutrition (SAM), finding that more than 100,000 children aged 1–59 months died from it in 2024 — a figure the authors warn is likely substantially underestimated, since malnutrition often goes unrecorded as an underlying cause of death. Malaria remained the single largest killer of children aged 1–59 months (17 per cent), with most deaths occurring in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa, which accounted for 58 per cent of all under-five deaths.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that despite the grim statistics, proven, low-cost interventions — vaccines, improved nutrition and skilled care at birth — could significantly reduce child mortality. "No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent," she said. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added that although the world has made remarkable progress in saving children's lives, many still die from preventable causes. The report notes that since 2015, the pace of reduction in child mortality has slowed by more than 60 per cent.

For the Simon Community Development Initiative, the findings underline exactly why its Anchor Care programme exists. Anchor Care ensures children are cared for through proper nutrition, health support, school readiness and the watchful presence of trained caregivers and community volunteers. As SCDI prepares for the official launch of its 'First Full Table' programme on 24 November 2026 at Ikwo Council Field in Ikwo Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, the organisation says the UN figures are a reminder that structured, community-based care for children is not charity — it is a necessity.

"Every number in this report is a child who needed a caring adult at the right moment," the organisation noted. "Anchor Care is SCDI's answer: steady, loving, organised care for children, delivered with the families who raise them."

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