Infant Mortality Rate at Historic Low

In 2010, approx­i­mate­ly 25,000 babies died before their first birth­day (a rate of 6.1 per 1,000 live births). Although still high­er than most oth­er devel­oped coun­tries, the U.S. infant mor­tal­i­ty rate has declined by 34% since 1990. Devel­op­ments in mater­nal health and advance­ments in med­ical tech­nol­o­gy par­tial­ly explain the trend. Despite improve­ments, racial dis­par­i­ties per­sist, with African-Amer­i­can (11.6 per 1,000 live births) and Amer­i­can Indi­an (7.6 per 1,000 live births) infants expe­ri­enc­ing high­er mor­tal­i­ty rates when com­pared to their white counterparts.

See the Health sec­tion of the KIDS COUNT Data Cen­ter for data for the nation, states and the Dis­trict of Columbia:

• Infant mor­tal­i­ty
• Infant mor­tal­i­ty by race