HUGE FALL IN CHILDHOOD DEATHS
THE MORTALITY RATE HAS DROPPED BY TWO-THIRDS SINCE THE 1980S
CHILDHOOD mortality rates have fallen to one of the lowest figures ever recorded. Official data shows that 1,088 children aged one to 15 died in 2016 in England and Wales - down from 3,155 as recently as 1981.
The fall is even more dramatic when the rising population is taken into account. Thirty-five years ago, 33 out of every 100,000 children died during the year. In 2016 that was down to 10 out of every 100,000 children. The rapid improvement has been put down to better detection and treatment of potentially lifethreatening illnesses. The data, published by the Office for National Statistics, shows the most common cause of child deaths in 2016 was cancer.
The disease killed 208 children, or 21 per cent of all those who died.
So-called “external” causes things like car crashes and death at the hands of another - caused 165 child deaths.
Diseases of the respiratory system, including pneumonia and influenza, caused a further 109 deaths.
And diseases of the nervous system - like bacterial meningitis, fluid on the brain and epilepsy were responsible for a further 104.
The number of child deaths hit a record low in 2014, when only 987 children died.
A spokesperson for Child Bereavement UK said: “No-one expects their child to die before them.
“It is out of the natural order of things and something that should never happen. For some the tragedy feels too overwhelming.
“When a child of any age dies, parents and carers lose much more than a precious son or daughter. Life as they knew it has been irreversibly changed. “They lose a future which included a child they nurtured, cared for, loved and who has now been cruelly taken away from them. With younger children the milestones are different from those of a teenager, or a young adult, but the pain surrounding shattered dreams is no less whatever the age.”