The world welcomed a report issued by three United Nations agencies and the World Bank which found that child mortality has declined by 41 percent since 1990, due in large part to improvements in nutrition, cleaner birth deliveries, access to antibiotics and vaccines, better infant care immediately after birth, and the use of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

Though the numbers are still shocking, they are a radical improvement over the state of child mortality two decades ago. Last year, about 6.9 million children under the age of 5 died, whereas in 1990 that figure was 12 million. Every year, about 58 million people die around the world of all ages.

The study also reported on which countries are improving their child mortality rates—and which countries are falling behind. However, of the two hundred countries examined, only Somalia showed no improvement in the under 5 mortality rate. Nearly half of all child deaths occur in only five countries: Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, India, and China.

Of these deaths, nearly two thirds are caused by infectious diseases such as measles, malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea, and about 40 percent of the deaths occur within the first month of life. This segment of deaths is increasing because while reasons for death in older children are easier to treat with cheap and low-tech methods, neonatal deaths are more resistant to intervention.

The reasons for the decline in mortality can be attributed to a number of factors, from improved delivery methods of vaccines (it used to take 20 years to bring new vaccines from Europe and the US to Africa and Asia) to the greater quantity of children sleeping under insecticide-treated mosquito nets (it used to be 2% in 2000 and was 38% in 2008). Improved access to clean water and the availability of antibiotics, rehydration salts, zinc tablets and the decrease in defecation in the open have all also done wonders to reduce deaths from pneumonia and diarrhea.

Perhaps most encouragingly, social progress has played a huge role in helping improve child mortality rates, with the greatest improvements happening in countries where a large push toward educating girls was made. An educated mother is much more likely to help her child survive, and this is being seen everywhere education is prized and encouraged.

These reports were released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the UN Population Division, and the World Bank.

– Phil Tucker is a health and fitness blogger who promotes natural body building and healthy cardio workouts to improve your quality of life.