World Statistics Day: Better data, Better lives

@ UNICEF Mongolia/2013

Today is World statistics day. This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 to recognize the central role of statistics for development and their importance in shaping our societies. With the recent adoption of Sustainable Development Agenda by countries, reliable and timely statistics and indicators have become more important than ever. For that reason, World Statistics Day this year is being observed under the theme “Better data, better lives.”

Ending child deaths from pneumonia

A child in rural Mongolia receiving medical care in rural Mongolia ©UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0448/Cullen 

Today is world pneumonia day. Globally pneumonia is the largest infectious killer of children under five. In 2012 pneumonia killed 1.1 million children under five, or 5,500 children every day, or one child every 15 seconds. Nearly all of these deaths occurred in developing countries.