A study of paediatric deaths in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria during a 4-year period (January 1984-December 1987) showed an overall mortality of 80 per 1000 paediatric admissions. A majority (47%) of the deaths were the newborn with a decline (7%) in children aged 61 months to 14 years. Major causes of death were tetanus, low birthweight and birth asphyxia in the newborn; malnutrition, pneumonia and measles in the pre-school age, and anaemia in the older children. Neonatal tetanus and malnutrition played a leading role in the overall mortality.