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Get the facts on the environment in developing countries and how it affects children and their families.

• More than 3 million children under age 5 die each year from environment-related causes and conditions.

• Diarrhea kills an estimated 1.6 million children each year, caused mainly by unsafe water and poor sanitation.

• More than 5 million children per year die from illnesses and other conditions caused by the environments in which they live, learn and play.

• Each year, acute respiratory infections kill an estimated 2 million children under age 5. As many as 60 percent of acute respiratory infections worldwide are related to environmental conditions. 
 
• Diarrheal diseases claim the lives of nearly 2 million children every year. Eighty to 90 percent of these diarrhea cases are related to environmental conditions, in particular, contaminated water and inadequate sanitation.

• Nearly 1 million children under age 5 died of malaria in 1998. Up to 90 percent of malaria cases are attributed to environmental factors.

• Half the developing world does not have access to proper sanitation.

• About 40 percent of the world's 400 million school-age children are infested with intestinal worms due to the lack of sanitation.

• About 6 million people are blind from trachoma, a disease caused by the lack of water combined with poor hygiene practices. Studies found that providing adequate water supply could reduce the infection rate by 25 percent.

• One billion people — 17 percent of the world's population — live on land likely to be dramatically changed by rising waters, with low-lying countries hardest hit.

• More than 2 billion people globally lack access to electricity and modern forms of energy.

• The number of people living in countries where cultivated land is critically scarce is projected to increase from 448 million in 2005 to between 559 million and 706 million in 2025.

Sources: www.who.int, www.un.org, www.childinfo.org, www.unep.org, www.populationaction.org