Under-five mortality in Bangladesh has fallen by nearly two-thirds since 2000

In 1990, nearly one in seven Bangladeshi children died before turning five. By 2000 the rate had fallen to 86 per 1,000 live births, and by 2023 to 31 per 1,000 — a decline of 64% since 2000 and 79% since 1990.

146 → 31

Deaths before age five per 1,000 live births, 1990 to 2023.

The gains came from many directions at once: near-universal childhood immunization, oral rehydration therapy for diarrhoea, vitamin A supplementation, better access to skilled birth attendance, and falling poverty.

But progress has slowed. Since 2019 the rate has barely moved, and most remaining deaths now happen in the first month of life — from preterm birth, birth complications and infections that need stronger hospital and newborn care rather than the community-level programmes that drove earlier gains.

Source: UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), via World Bank WDI.