Number of under-five deaths in India

India: Number of under-five deaths was 615,030 in 2024. ▼ Falling

Latest (2024)
615,030
Change on year
down 5.4%
World rank
2nd
of 195 countries
All-time high
4.51 million
in 1972
All-time low
615,030
in 2024
Years of data
65
1960–2024

Number of under-five deaths in India, 1960–2024

1.0M2.0M3.0M4.0M5.0M196019922024

Source: UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Analysis

In 2024, number of under-five deaths in India stood at 615,030. That is the lowest value across all 65 years on record.

The figure is down 5.4% on the previous year and down 48.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of under-five deaths in India peaked at 4.51 million in 1972 and was at its lowest, 615,030, in 2024.

India ranks 2nd of 195 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 65 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 4.43 million 4.32 million 4.49 million 10
1970s 4.41 million 4.19 million 4.51 million 10
1980s 3.90 million 3.61 million 4.14 million 10
1990s 3.13 million 2.71 million 3.52 million 10
2000s 2.15 million 1.66 million 2.62 million 10
2010s 1.17 million 847,867 1.56 million 10
2020s 693,757 615,030 785,261 5

Countries ranked near India

  1. 1 Nigeria 855,676 compare
  2. 3 Democratic Republic of Congo 385,039 compare
  3. 4 Pakistan 381,586 compare
  4. 5 Ethiopia 181,228 compare

See the full ranking of 243 places →

More health data for India

All data for India →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of under-five deaths in India?
Number of under-five deaths in India was 615,030 in 2024, according to UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
What is the highest number of under-five deaths recorded in India?
The highest recorded value was 4.51 million in 1972.
What is the lowest number of under-five deaths recorded in India?
The lowest recorded value was 615,030 in 2024.
How does India rank for number of under-five deaths?
India ranks 2nd out of 195 countries with data for 2024.
Is number of under-five deaths rising or falling in India?
Over the last ten years it is down 48.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this India data come from?
The figures come from UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), published as part of Number of under-five deaths. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 65 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

About this data

Indicator
Number of under-five deaths
Source
UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
243 places, 13,069 data points, 1960–2024
Last refreshed

Number of children dying before reaching age five.