Child Development Index  The Child Development Index (CDI) is an index combining performance measures specific to children - education, health and nutrition - to produce a score on a scale of 0 to 100. A zero score would be the best. The higher the score, the worse children are faring. The Child Development Index was developed by Save the Children UK in 2008 through the contributions of Terry McKinley, Director of the Centre for Development Policy and Research at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, with support from Katerina Kyrili. The indicators which make up the index were chosen because they are easily available, commonly understood, and clearly indicative of child wellbeing. The three indicators are:  What does the Child Development Index tell us about how children are faring around the world? Are some countries making good progress in improving child well-being? Is it getting worse in other countries? The Child Development Index answers these questions. The index measures child well-being over three periods from 1990. Japan is in first place, scoring just 0.4. Niger in Africa is in 137th place, with the highest score, 58, in 2000-2006. Overall, child well-being has improved by 34% since 1990, but progress is slow. Children are doing worse in Sub-Saharan Africa than any other region. Africa scores 35 in the Index, reflecting the high level of deprivation in primary schooling, child health and child nutrition. It is also making the slowest progress, improving child well-being by only 20% over 1990-2006. However, progress has been very mixed; some countries in Africa have done incredibly well, while others did spectacularly badly. Countries like Malawi cut child deprivation in half, enrolling more than 90% of primary school children. But some of the poorest children in Africa live in countries suffering from conflict and poor governance; such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Slow progress in reducing child mortality and malnutrition is a particular problem; one in six babies born in Africa will not live to see their fifth birthday. Rich and poor countries worldwide must urgently choose to tackle this problem. East Asia has made considerable progress in child well-being in recent years, improving it by 45% over 1990-2006, reducing deprivation to a score of just 8.5; only one other developing region, Latin America, scores better. It has the best level of primary school enrolment and has managed to halve its child mortality rate over 1990-2006. Much of this progress is because of China's significant improvement, where almost two-thirds of the region's children live.