UNICEF says the infant mortality rate is still falling

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released its flagship report “The State of the World’s Children 2023” a few days ago. A version titledFor every child, a vaccine“. For Morocco, the report indicates that the Kingdom’s population will reach 37,077,000 in 2021, including more than 11,779,000 under the age of 18 and 3,285,000 under the age of 5. The annual population growth rate will increase from 1.2% between 2000 and 2020 to 1.2% between 2020 and 2030. 0.8% It indicates that the decrease will be

Annual births reached 651,000 births in 2021, with a total fertility rate (live births per woman) of 2.3 children. Life expectancy at birth has increased from 49 years in 1970 to 67 years in 2000 and will reach 74 years in 2021. The share of urban population will reach 64% by 2021, the report adds, at a compounded annual growth rate. Urban population will increase from 2% between 2000 and 2020 to 1.5% between 2020 and 2030.

Regarding child mortality, UNICEF notes that the annual under-five mortality rate in Morocco will reach 12,000 in 2021, a rate of 18%. It was 81% in 1990 and declined to 52% in 2000. This rate is higher among boys (20%) than among girls (16%), the report added. The infant mortality rate was 15% in 2021, with 11% of neonatal mortality, 2% of deaths among children aged 5-14 years and 13% of stillbirths (infants who died after 6 months of pregnancy).

14% of girls get married before the age of 18

In the statistics, there were 11,788 deaths among children under the age of five, of which 61% (7,239) were neonatal deaths, compared to 1,626 deaths and 8,722 stillbirths among children aged 5 to 14 years. As for children’s health, the theme of this year’s edition, statistics show near-perfect coverage for vaccine-preventable diseases. In fact, Morocco has a coverage rate of 99% for most diseases.

In terms of education, the report indicates that the rate of out-of-school one year before primary school age in 2013-2022 was 24% for boys and 30% for girls. It increases to 2% for boys and 3% for girls for primary education, 6% and 9% for secondary education and 24% and 27% for tertiary education. In terms of learning, the proportion of children at the end of primary education is 36 for reading and 18 for mathematics and drops to 27 and 12 respectively at the end of the first cycle of secondary education. As for the 2013-2022 literacy rate, it reaches 98% among boys aged 15 to 24 years and 97% among girls, the report added.

In terms of child protection, UNICEF laments that 14% of girls are married before the age of 18. The report also indicates that the percentage of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 who think it is right for a husband to hit or spank his wife for specific reasons reaches 64%. The report does not provide statistics for children in the same category.

Finally, the document highlights that between 2010 and 2021, 965 children per 100,000 children were placed in institutions, compared to 79 per 100,000 children in detention.