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

To understand the statistics of human lives in Sri Lanka, we must look at how many children never reached their fifth birthday. Behind every decimal point and rounded figure lies the quiet weight of families navigating the fragile boundary between birth and survival across three centuries. Every value recorded here reflects real children, real parents, and a changing world where the loss of the young was once an ordinary occurrence of daily life.

The historical arc reveals a slow turning of the tide. In the 1800s estimate, child mortality sat at 450 per 1,000 births, ticking down gradually through 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 the 1900s estimate, it was 420 per 1,000 births.

Progress accelerated through 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. In the 2020s, child mortality (under 5) in Sri Lanka stands at 38 per 1,000 births — ranking #116 of 157 countries. Projections look toward the 2100s projection at 6.38.

Explore your own place in this human timeline by computing your parallel lives on MYRIAD.