Baseline
Topics / Health & Medicine Health & Medicine

In 1800, more than four in ten children died before turning five. Today, more than 96 in 100 survive.

43 % → 3.7 % Share of children worldwide dying before age five, 1800 vs. 2024. Source: Gapminder, UN IGME via OWID
32 → 73 Global life expectancy in years: more than doubled between 1900 and 2023. Source: UN WPP, Riley via OWID
154 M deaths averted by vaccination since 1974 – 101 million of them infants. Source: Shattock et al., The Lancet (2024), modelling study
1980 Smallpox declared eradicated – the first disease ever wiped out by humanity. Source: WHO
Life expectancy at birth, worldYears, 1800–2023
040 yrs80 yrs28.53246731800185019001950197020002023 Source: Riley (2005), Zijdeman et al. (2015), Human Mortality Database, UN World Population Prospects 2024, via Our World in Data (CC BY).

Longer lives at every age

Global life expectancy has more than doubled since 1900 – from 32 to 73 years. This is not only because fewer children die: people now live longer at every age.

Share of children who die before age five, worldIn percent, 1800–2024
0 %25 %50 %43 %41 %25 %3.7 %180019001950197020002024 Source: Gapminder and UN IGME, via Our World in Data. Values before 1950 are historical reconstructions published by Gapminder.

Why it changed

For most of history, losing a child was a normal part of family life – in every country. Clean water, better nutrition, rising incomes and education laid the foundation. Modern medicine – vaccines, antibiotics and oral rehydration – then saved millions more.

What still needs doing

Nearly 4 in 100 children worldwide still die before their fifth birthday, and the gap between countries remains large. Vaccination coverage has slipped in places since the pandemic – protecting it is one of the most effective ways to keep the progress going.

Sources

  1. Our World in Data – Child mortality rate (Gapminder; UN IGME). ourworldindata.org/grapher/child-mortality
  2. Our World in Data – Life expectancy (Riley 2005; Zijdeman et al. 2015; HMD; UN WPP 2024). ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy
  3. Shattock, A. J. et al. (2024) – Contribution of vaccination to improved survival and health: modelling 50 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization. The Lancet 403(10441), 2307–2316 (CC BY 4.0). doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00850-X
  4. WHO – Smallpox eradication, declared 1980.
Last reviewed: 11 November 2026 · All figures rounded.