income to increase as well as the average fertility rate to decrease. covid-19 and child mortality child mortality, unlike mortality throughout other ages, actually dropped in 2020 when the covid-19 pandemic hit the world. children were among the lowest group of deaths in the world due to covid-19. about 3.7 million deaths occurred and only 0.4 of them occurred in adolescents under 20 years of age, making about 13,400 deaths in adolescents. of that small proportion, 42% occurred in children under the age of 9 years old.