Yet mortality rates among children under 20 in industrialized countries have fallen dramatically in recent decades. Death rates for girls and boys in 1993 are less than half what they were in 1970.
Boys die at higher rates than girls in all industrialized countries.
There are significant disparities among countries. Most of the decline in death rates among under-20s occurred among children under 5, mainly the result of improved health care. Most of the older boys' deaths are caused by accidents, such as car crashes, falls and firearm mishaps.