De Neve JW, et al. - In order to investigate patterns in human capabilities at the national and regional levels, between 2000 and 2017 (N = 1,657,194 children under age 5), nationally and regionally representative individual-level data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 55 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were utilized. Based on under-five survival, maternal educational attainment, and measures of a child’s household wealth, they graphically analyzed human capabilities, separately for each country, and proposed a novel child-based Human Development Index (HDI). They observed considerable heterogeneity in the child-based HDI across countries—ranging from 0.140 in Niger to 0.755 in Albania—as well as within countries. Over time, improvements were found overall but that is not the case in all countries. The persistent location of poor child health geographic areas over both the development spectrum and time can be reflective of poverty traps within the country. Such outcomes may point decision-makers working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals to more targeted efforts to further decrease persistent health disparities.