Child Mortality (under 5) in Afghanistan: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

Behind every data point on MYRIAD is a question about the raw arithmetic of human survival. For Afghanistan, child mortality under five measures the fragile margin between a beginning and a future. Every value represents lives actually lived, counting the infants who drew their first breath and those who did not live to see their fifth birthday. These figures are not abstract calculations; they trace the profound weight of family grief and resilience across generations, capturing the stark reality of how many children made it past infancy and how many were lost.

The historical arc across three centuries reveals a slow, monumental shift in the sheer volume of survival. In the 1800s estimate, child mortality sat at 450 per 1,000 births, ticking down slowly through the decades with the 1810s estimate at 447, the 1820s estimate at 444, the 1830s estimate at 441, the 1840s estimate at 438, the 1850s estimate at 435, the 1860s estimate at 432, the 1870s estimate at 429, the 1880s estimate at 426, and the 1890s estimate at 423. By 1900 it was 420 per 1,000 births, continuing downward through the 1900s estimate at 420, the 1910s estimate at 392, the 1920s estimate at 364, the 1930s estimate at 336, the 1940s estimate at 308, the 1950s at 280, the 1960s at 236.67, the 1970s at 193.33, the 1980s at 150, the 1990s at 120, the 2000s at 90, and the 2010s at 64.

Where you stand depends entirely on the era into which you enter the world. In the 2020s, child mortality under 5 in Afghanistan stands at 38 per 1,000 births, ranking #114 of 157 countries. Looking ahead, the trajectory points toward the 2030s projection at 30.4, the 2040s projection at 24.32, the 2050s projection at 19.46, the 2060s projection at 15.56, the 2070s projection at 12.45, the 2080s projection at 9.96, the 2090s projection at 7.97, and the 2100s projection at 6.38. Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →