THE newly released National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) has stated that 132 of 1000 Nigerian children die before the age of five which showed an increase when compared to the 2013 survey with 128 deaths per 1000 live births.

The NDHS, implemented by Nigeria’s National Population Commission, is a national sample survey that provides up-to-date information on demographic and health indicators.  

The official statistics recorded that under-five mortality  was 132 deaths per 1,000 live births. It implies that more than one in 8 children die before clocking age five in Nigeria. 

Meanwhile, the 2013 NDHS revealed that there were 128 deaths in 1000 live births before age five, an indication that there were additional four deaths per 1000 live births.

The NDHS defines under-five mortality “The probability of dying between birth and the fifth birthday”.

So with the current figure, for every 100,000 births, 13,200 children die. For every 1,000,000 births, there is a probability of 132,000 dying.

Breaking it down to each state, Kebbi state has the highest number of children deaths with 252 deaths per 1000 live births, while Ogun had the lowest deaths of children with 30 deaths per 1000 births.

Among the six regions, the NDHS revealed that Northwest had the highest rate of deaths among children below five, while the Southwest had the lowest rate.

The report also stated that boys are more likely to die in childhood than girls.  

“The difference is particularly pronounced for the under-5 mortality rate (137 male deaths per 1,000 live births versus 127 female deaths per 1,000 live births),” it stated.

Also, the death rate is higher in rural areas than in urban areas with 157 and 92 deaths per 1,000 live births respectively.

“The demographic characteristics of both mothers and children have been found to play an important role in the survival of children,” it reported.