Death rates across the first year of life have fallen steadily, so each day of infancy is safer than it was for earlier generations. The biggest falls came from clean water and sanitation, vaccination, oral rehydration for diarrhoea, better care around birth and antibiotics for infections. Risk is highest in the first days and weeks, when problems at birth dominate. Progress has been especially striking since the mid twentieth century, when many earlier killers became preventable or treatable.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.