Effects of poverty

Every hour of every day more than 700 children die. The causes of death vary, but the vast majority can be traced down to one single cause: poverty.

The leading causes of death for children under five include preventable or treatable diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria.

The right direction

The number of deaths of children under five has decreased from 12.5 million in 1990 to 5.3 million in 2018 - a 57.6% decrease.

But still, without urgent action, 56 million children under 5 will die between 2019 and 2030. Half of these children will be newborns.

A giant preventable tragedy

The tsunami in 2004 and the Haiti earthquake in 2010 together killed 530,000 people. In the 5 years between these two tragedies more than 50 million children died from poverty. These deaths were less visible but predictable and preventable.

It’s a question of priorities

About 2 in every 3 child deaths can be avoided. Two days’ worth of military spending in developed countries (2.3 billion US dollars) can save 2.3 million lives.

Should we accept this?

“The world is heading for a heavily sign-posted human development disaster, the cost of which will be counted in avoidable deaths”

- The United Nations.