LAUSR

Child mortality has been declining globally in the last decades but some African countries are still lagging behind in the pace of reduction. This study examined the spatio-temporal patterns in the level and variability of child mortality in 41 Africa countries between 1980 and 2018, and assesses the form of relationship between individual countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) and child mortality using country-level data from World Bank development indicators. Model estimation was based on Bayesian approach. Findings show that child mortality levels are reducing consistently in Africa and that over the 39 years study period, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia all in southern Africa with Egypt, Tunisia and Rwanda experienced the highest variability in child mortality. Also, countries like Nigeria, Mauritania, Chad and Central African Republic are among those with the highest risks of child mortality between 2015-2018 even though the risks were lower relative to other places in the 1980s. Child mortality and GDP always follow each other in reverse order but this is not often the case for all the countries considered.