Reliable and timely data on causes of death are needed to guide effective policy and programmes in countries to improve child survival.
Definition:
Number of deaths in children under 5 years by cause, age group with cause defined by ICD-10 codes for common conditions.
Associated terms:
Child mortality
Disaggregation:
Age, Cause
Method of measurement
Data sources: Data from civil registration with complete coverage (80% or over) and medical certification of cause of death, or nationally representative epidemiological studies of causes of child death (special studies analysing causes of death based on verbal autopsy studies or other sources for countries without civil registration data).
Method of estimation:
Estimates of child cause of death were prepared by the Child and Adolescent Cause of Death group (CA CODE) for complete methods please see:
Perin J, Prieto-Merino D, Wahi A, Pramanik S, Eilerts-Spinelli H, Villavicencio F, McCormick T, You D, Abhirup D, Strong K, Black R, Liu L. Systematic estimates of global causes of neonatal and under 5 mortality in 2000-24: secondary data analysis using Bayesian multinomial logistic regression BMJ 2026; 393:e088686 doi:10.1136/bmj-2025-088686.
Predominant type of statistics: predicted and adjusted.
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Estimates for UN Member States using Bayesian multinomial logistic regression
Other possible data sources:
Special studies
Preferred data sources:
Civil registration with complete coverage and medical certification of cause of death
Unit of Measure:
Number of deaths
Expected frequency of data dissemination:
Biennial
Expected frequency of data collection:
Biennial
Comments:
Three of the cause groups used for this indicator require special definition:
“Other Group 1 (postneonatal)” includes other infections and conditions that occurred in the newborn period but resulted in a postneonatal death, i.e., tetanus, neonatal sepsis, prematurity, and birth asphyxia/trauma.
“Other noncommunicable diseases (postneonatal only)” includes other NCDs, i.e. cancers.
“Other Group 1 and Other noncommunicable (neonatal and under-5 only)” includes other infectious causes of the newborn, i.e. HIV/AIDS, measles, pertussis.
Estimates are useful for country comparisons and trends over time but not for sub-national level unless produced for subnational populations.
or for monitoring programme specific outputs and outcomes.
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