Key points
- 2.3 million newborns died in their first 28 days in 2024 — 47% of all under-five deaths (WHO, fact sheet 1 May 2026).
- The neonatal mortality rate was about 17.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, down from 36.6 in 1990 (UN IGME, via World Bank data).
- Kangaroo mother care is continuous skin-to-skin contact, recommended by WHO as routine care for all preterm and low-birthweight babies (WHO, 2022–2023).
- Preventing newborn deaths requires quality antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, skilled health personnel at birth, and essential newborn care (WHO).
Direct answer: The first 28 days of life are the most dangerous month of childhood. 2.3 million newborns died in their first 28 days in 2024 — 47% of all deaths of children under five (WHO, fact sheet 1 May 2026). The neonatal mortality rate was about 17.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024, down from 36.6 in 1990. Preventing newborn deaths requires quality antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, skilled health personnel at birth, and essential newborn care. This page is awareness only: it describes what WHO recommends at population level, and it gives no advice for any individual baby.
The numbers
The figures are WHO’s, from the child mortality fact sheet published 1 May 2026 (data year 2024). 2.3 million newborns died in their first 28 days in 2024 — 47% of all under-five deaths. The neonatal mortality rate was about 17.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2024 (UN IGME, via World Bank data), down from 36.6 in 1990 — more than halved in 34 years. But the newborn share of under-five deaths has risen as deaths after the first month have fallen faster: the first month is now where nearly half of all under-five dying happens. The most common causes among neonates are prematurity, intrapartum events, lower respiratory infections (pneumonia) and sepsis — almost 8 in 10 neonatal deaths (WHO).
Essential newborn care
WHO states that preventing newborn deaths requires quality antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, skilled health personnel at birth and essential newborn care. Essential newborn care is the set of basic practices around birth: keeping the baby warm, skin-to-skin contact, and starting breastfeeding within the first hour of life. This page describes those practices at population level only. It does not give instructions for any individual birth — what happens at a birth is a matter for the skilled health personnel attending it, and the companion guides on antenatal care, safe childbirth and postnatal care cover the care around birth in turn.
Kangaroo mother care
Kangaroo mother care is the care of preterm or low-birthweight babies in continuous and prolonged skin-to-skin contact — 8 to 24 hours a day, for as many hours as possible — initiated immediately after birth unless the newborn is critically sick, with support for exclusive breastfeeding or breast-milk feeding (WHO, Global Position Paper on Kangaroo Mother Care, 2023). WHO’s 2022 recommendations make kangaroo mother care routine care for all preterm and low-birthweight infants, started as soon as possible after birth. The position paper reports a trial of 3,211 newborns in which immediate skin-to-skin care reduced deaths in the first 28 days by 25% compared with conventional care. Since 2023, WHO’s position is that from the moment of birth, every “small and sick” newborn should remain with their mother in immediate and continuous skin-to-skin contact, receiving all required clinical care in that place. Kangaroo mother care is a health-system practice for small and sick newborns — this page describes it, and does not advise any parent on caring for their own baby.
Breastfeeding from the first hour
Breastfeeding begins in the first 28 days: WHO recommends initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding to two years or beyond with complementary foods from six months (fact sheet, 4 August 2026). Only about 47% of infants aged 0–6 months worldwide were exclusively breastfed in 2018–2025. Nearly 400,000 under-five deaths a year could be prevented if all infants were exclusively breastfed for the first six months and breastfed to two years or beyond. The companion guide on child nutrition carries the full breastfeeding and first-foods picture.
Why the first month matters most
The first 28 days carry the highest risk because the causes of death in this period — prematurity, birth asphyxia and trauma, pneumonia, sepsis — need skilled care at birth and in the days after it. That is why the newborn figures sit between the maternal figures and the under-five figures: the same skilled attendance that protects a mother at birth protects her baby, and the same postnatal contacts that check a mother check her newborn. Maternal health and newborn health are closely linked, in WHO’s words, and the guides on safe childbirth and postnatal care are the other half of this page.
Frequently asked questions
How many newborns die in their first month?
2.3 million newborns died in their first 28 days in 2024 — 47% of all under-five deaths (WHO, fact sheet 1 May 2026).
What is kangaroo mother care?
Continuous skin-to-skin contact between a baby and a parent, recommended by WHO as routine care for preterm and low-birthweight babies, started as soon as possible after birth.
What protects newborns at population level?
Quality antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care, skilled health personnel at birth, and essential newborn care (WHO).