* In 2023, pneumonia accounted for 14 percent of all deaths among children under age 5 worldwide. An estimated 700,000 children under 5 die from pneumonia annually, or around 2,000 every day, with over 190,000 of those being newborns; nearly all deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, with the highest burden in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. More children die from pneumonia than from any other single infectious disease. (WHO/UNICEF 2023)
* In the U.S., about 2.5 million children under age 5 develop community-acquired pneumonia annually, with roughly a third leading to hospitalization. (CDC 2023)
* The most common cause of bacterial pneumonia in children remains Streptococcus pneumoniae; Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is now far less common due to widespread vaccination, with Mycoplasma pneumoniae emerging as a frequent cause of "walking pneumonia" (milder cases) in school-aged children and, notably, a rising threat in children under 5 since 2024. Both S. pneumoniae and M. pneumoniae are generally transmitted through respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing.
* In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Prevnar 13 (PCV13) for routine vaccination of children 6 weeks to 5 years old for the prevention of 13 types of pneumococcal pneumonia; it replaced the earlier year 2000 version, PCV7. Between 2000 and 2023, PCV vaccines (including PCV13 and newer formulations like PCV15, PCV20, and PCV21) reduced invasive pneumococcal disease rates by over 90 percent in U.S. children under 5 and by 50-75 percent globally, averting an estimated 700,000 child deaths worldwide from 2000-2015 alone; coverage gaps persist, with only 60 percent of children in high-burden countries fully vaccinated. (CDC/WHO 2023)