India’s child mortality rate has dropped by more than half since 1990 but it still recorded the world’s highest number of deaths among children below age five in 2013, a United Nations report said on Tuesday, acknowledging the progress made by the world’s second most populous nation.

The report, ‘Levels and Trends in Child Mortality 2014’, found that India registered 1.34 million under-five deaths in 2013, the highest in the world.

While more Indian children are surviving to their fifth birthday than in 1990, it along with Nigeria still accounted for more than a third of all such deaths in 2013.

Acknowledging the substantial global progress in reducing child deaths since 1990, the report cited the example of countries like India that are “beginning to lead the way”.

The number of under-five deaths in India declined from 3.33 million in 1990 to 1.34 million in 2013. The number of under-five deaths worldwide has declined from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013.

During the same time, India’s infant mortality rate fell from 88 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 41 in 2013, while the neonatal mortality rate fell from 51 deaths per 1,000 live births to 29 last year, the report said.

About half of the all under-five deaths occur in only five countries - India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and China.

India with 21 per cent and Nigeria with 13 per cent account for more than a third of all under-five deaths in the world.

About 2.8 million babies died globally within the first month of life, which represents about 44 per cent of all under-five deaths.

Two-thirds of neonatal deaths occur in just 10 countries, with India accounting for more than a quarter of such deaths.

The report also found that in 2013, the children under five died from mostly preventable causes. The leading causes being pre-term birth complications (17 per cent), pneumonia (15 per cent), complications during labour and delivery (11 per cent), diarrhoea (9 per cent) and malaria (7 per cent).

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