Despite the global decline in under-five mortality rate from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 48 in
2012, Nigeria has failed to record any substantial improvement. Under-five mortality in Nigeria increased
from 138 per 1,000 live births in 2007 to 158 per 1,000 live births in 2011 against the Millennium development
Goal target of 71 per 1,000 live births. The study used data from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey
(NDHS) 2008 to investigate the predictors of child (aged 0-4 years) mortality in Nigeria. Only data for the
currently married women were extracted and filtered by the experience of child mortality (n = 6,256) and those
who do not have such experience (n = 9,809). Overall, 16,065 women were covered. Cross-tabulation and
binary logistic regression techniques were employed in the statistical analysis. The cross-tabulation analysis
shows that that mortality rate was highest (49.14%) for children of illiterate mothers and lowest (13.29%)
among mothers with higher education. In the logistic regression analysis, education of both parents and
occupation of mothers were found statistically significant to reduction in child mortality rate. The result also
revealed that mothers’ wealth index, age at first birth and usual of place of residence have substantial impact
on child mortality in Nigeria. The authors suggested that increase in women education could increase age at
first birth and mitigate the risk of poor child health outcomes.