Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America

United States of America: Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause was 5,459 in 2021. ▼ Falling

Latest (2021)
5,459
Change on year
down 2.0%
World rank
36th
of 193 countries
All-time high
8,830
in 2005
All-time low
5,459
in 2021
Years of data
22
2000–2021

Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America, 2000–2021

02.0k4.0k6.0k8.0k2000201020212000: 8.5k2001: 8.6k2002: 8.4k2003: 8.8k2004: 8.7k2005: 8.8k2006: 8.8k2007: 8.7k2008: 8.5k2009: 8.0k2010: 7.6k2011: 7.4k2012: 7.4k2013: 7.3k2014: 7.3k2015: 7.0k2016: 6.8k2017: 6.6k2018: 6.3k2019: 5.9k2020: 5.6k2021: 5.5k

Source: World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory.

Analysis

United States of America recorded 5,459 for number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in 2021. That is the lowest value across all 22 years on record.

That represents a change of down 2.0% on the previous year and down 25.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America peaked at 8,830 in 2005 and was at its lowest, 5,459, in 2021.

United States of America ranks 36th of 193 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 22 years of available data.

Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America, year by year

Annual values for Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America, 2000 to 2021.
Year Value Change
2000 8,477
2001 8,602 +1.5%
2002 8,377 -2.6%
2003 8,830 +5.4%
2004 8,690 -1.6%
2005 8,830 +1.6%
2006 8,753 -0.9%
2007 8,682 -0.8%
2008 8,458 -2.6%
2009 7,997 -5.5%
2010 7,561 -5.4%
2011 7,365 -2.6%
2012 7,401 +0.5%
2013 7,335 -0.9%
2014 7,258 -1.1%
2015 6,953 -4.2%
2016 6,816 -2.0%
2017 6,574 -3.6%
2018 6,254 -4.9%
2019 5,946 -4.9%
2020 5,569 -6.3%
2021 5,459 -2.0%

United States of America compared with similar countries

  • United States of America's 5,459 is above the median for high income countries, which is 68.77, 79.4× the median. (63 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
2000s 8,570 7,997 8,830 10
2010s 6,946 5,946 7,561 10
2020s 5,514 5,459 5,569 2

Countries ranked near United States of America

  1. 33 Brazil 6,631 compare
  2. 34 Benin 5,862 compare
  3. 35 Guinea 5,707 compare
  4. 37 Malawi 5,392 compare
  5. 38 Zimbabwe 5,269 compare
  6. 39 Mexico 5,247 compare

See the full ranking of 202 places →

More health data for United States of America

All data for United States of America →

Frequently asked questions

What is number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America?
Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America was 5,459 in 2021, according to World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory.
What is the highest number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause recorded in United States of America?
The highest recorded value was 8,830 in 2005.
What is the lowest number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause recorded in United States of America?
The lowest recorded value was 5,459 in 2021.
How does United States of America rank for number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause?
United States of America ranks 36th out of 193 countries with data for 2021.
Is number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause rising or falling in United States of America?
Over the last ten years it is down 25.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this United States of America data come from?
The figures come from World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory, published as part of Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 22 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America. Statizoid, drawing on World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. Retrieved 17 September 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-deaths-in-children-aged-5-years-by-cause/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://health.statizoid.com/stat/number-of-deaths-in-children-aged-5-years-by-cause/united-states/">Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause in United States of America</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Number of deaths in children aged <5 years, by cause
Source
World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO)
Coverage
202 places, 4,444 data points, 2000–2021
Last refreshed