This dataset is no longer updated as of April 2023.

Basic Metadata Note: The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Rate is infant deaths (under one year of age) due to SIDS per 1,000 live births, by geography. Data set includes registered deaths only. Numerator represents infant's race/ethnicity. Denominator represents mother's race/ethnicity.

**Blank Cells: Rates not calculated for fewer than 5 events. Rates not calculated in cases where zip code is unknown.

***API: Asian/Pacific Islander. ***AIAN: American Indian/Alaska Native.

Sources: California Department of Public Health, Center for Health Statistics, Office of Health Information and Research, Vital Records Business Intelligence System, 2016. Prepared by: County of San Diego, Health & Human Services Agency, Public Health Services, Community Health Statistics Unit, 2019.

Codes: ICD‐10 Mortality code R95.

Data Guide, Dictionary, and Codebook: https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/CHS/Community%20Profiles/Public%20Health%20Services%20Codebook_Data%20Guide_Metadata_10.2.19.xlsx

Interpretation: "There were 5 SIDS deaths per 1,000 live births in Geography X".

This is historical data. The update frequency has been set to "Static Data" and is here for historic value. Updated on 8/14/2024 Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Rate - This indicator shows the rate of sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) per 1,000 live births. Sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) include deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), unknown cause, accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed. Three hundred and sixty-two babies died from SUIDs in Maryland from 2005-2009. Link to Data Details

In 2022, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 5.4 out of every 1,000 live births. This is a significant decrease from 1960, when infant mortality was at around 26 deaths out of every 1,000 live births. What is infant mortality? The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of babies under the age of one per 1,000 live births. There are many causes for infant mortality, which include birth defects, low birth weight, pregnancy complications, and sudden infant death syndrome. In order to decrease the high rates of infant mortality, there needs to be an increase in education and medicine so babies and mothers can receive the proper treatment needed. Maternal mortality is also related to infant mortality. If mothers can attend more prenatal visits and have more access to healthcare facilities, maternal mortality can decrease, and babies have a better chance of surviving in their first year. Worldwide infant mortality rates Infant mortality rates vary worldwide; however, some areas are more affected than others. Afghanistan suffered from the highest infant mortality rate in 2024, and the following 19 countries all came from Africa, with the exception of Pakistan. On the other hand, Slovenia had the lowest infant mortality rate that year. High infant mortality rates can be attributed to lack of sanitation, technological advancements, and proper natal care. In the United States, Massachusetts had the lowest infant mortality rate, while Mississippi had the highest in 2022. Overall, the number of neonatal and post neonatal deaths in the United States has been steadily decreasing since 1995.

The infant mortality rate in the United States, for children under the age of one (twelve months), was 60 deaths per thousand births in 1935. Approximately six percent of children born in 1935 did not survive past their first birthday. Over the course of the next 85 years, this number has dropped significantly, and the rate has reached its lowest point ever in the period between 2015 and 2020, at six deaths per thousand births. Figures have been below ten since the 1990s.

In 2022, the state of Mississippi had the highest infant mortality rate in the United States, with around 9.11 deaths per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the age of one. The countries with the lowest infant mortality rates worldwide are Slovenia, Singapore, and Iceland. The countries with the highest infant mortality rates include Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Central African Republic. Causes of infant mortality Rates and causes of infant mortality are different depending on the country and region. However, the leading causes of neonatal deaths include preterm birth complications, intrapartum-related events, and sepsis. The leading causes of death among children aged 1 to 59 months are pneumonia, diarrhea, and injury. In the United States The infant mortality rate in the United States has decreased over the past few decades, reaching a low of 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021. The most common causes of infant death in the United States are congenital malformations, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. In 2022, congenital malformations accounted for around 108 infant deaths per 100,000 live births.

Historical dataset showing U.S. infant mortality rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

Number of infant deaths and infant mortality rates, by age group (neonatal and post-neonatal), 1991 to most recent year.

This is a source dataset for a Let's Get Healthy California indicator at https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/. Infant Mortality is defined as the number of deaths in infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality is often used as an indicator to measure the health and well-being of a community, because factors affecting the health of entire populations can also impact the mortality rate of infants. Although California’s infant mortality rate is better than the national average, there are significant disparities, with African American babies dying at more than twice the rate of other groups. Data are from the Birth Cohort Files. The infant mortality indicator computed from the birth cohort file comprises birth certificate information on all births that occur in a calendar year (denominator) plus death certificate information linked to the birth certificate for those infants who were born in that year but subsequently died within 12 months of birth (numerator). Studies of infant mortality that are based on information from death certificates alone have been found to underestimate infant death rates for infants of all race/ethnic groups and especially for certain race/ethnic groups, due to problems such as confusion about event registration requirements, incomplete data, and transfers of newborns from one facility to another for medical care. Note there is a separate data table "Infant Mortality by Race/Ethnicity" which is based on death records only, which is more timely but less accurate than the Birth Cohort File. Single year shown to provide state-level data and county totals for the most recent year. Numerator: Infants deaths (under age 1 year). Denominator: Live births occurring to California state residents. Multiple years aggregated to allow for stratification at the county level. For this indicator, race/ethnicity is based on the birth certificate information, which records the race/ethnicity of the mother. The mother can “decline to state”; this is considered to be a valid response. These responses are not displayed on the indicator visualization.

Infant Mortality Rate by Maternal Race/Ethnicity for New York City, 2007-2016 Counts of infant deaths (age <1 year) are based on NYC death certificates. The rate is calculated using the counts of infant deaths as the numerator and the count of live births from NYC birth certificates as the denominator.

United States US: Mortality Rate: Infant: Male: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 6.000 Ratio in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.200 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Mortality Rate: Infant: Male: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 6.800 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10.400 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 6.000 Ratio in 2017. United States US: Mortality Rate: Infant: Male: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Infant mortality rate, male is the number of male infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 male live births in a given year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

Historical dataset showing Switzerland infant mortality rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Infant Mortality Rate for the United States (SPDYNIMRTINUSA) from 1960 to 2023 about mortality, infant, rate, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Infant Mortality Rate for Estonia (SPDYNIMRTINEST) from 1980 to 2023 about Estonia, mortality, infant, and rate.

The Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 consist of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) estimates for 234 countries and territories, 143 of which include subnational Units. The data are benchmarked to the year 2015 (Version 1 was benchmarked to the year 2000), and are drawn from national offices, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), and other sources from 2006 to 2014. In addition to Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 includes crude estimates of births and infant deaths, which could be aggregated or disaggregated to different geographies to calculate infant mortality rates at different scales or resolutions, where births are the rate denominator and infant deaths are the rate numerator. Boundary inputs are derived primarily from the Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) data collection. National and subnational data are mapped to grid cells at a spatial resolution of 30 arc-seconds (~1 km) (Version 1 has a spatial resolution of 1/4 degree, ~28 km at the equator), allowing for easy integration with demographic, environmental, and other spatial data.

Graph and download economic data for Infant Mortality Rate for Chile (SPDYNIMRTINCHL) from 1960 to 2023 about mortality, infant, Chile, and rate.

Background: Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of infant mortality in the United States (US). The extent to which SIDS manifests with an underlying neuropathological mechanism is highly controversial. SIDS correlates with markers of poor prenatal and postnatal care, generally rooted in the lack of access and quality of healthcare endemic to select racial and ethnic groups, and thus can be viewed in the context of health disparities. However, some evidence suggests that at least a subset of SIDS cases may result from a neuropathological mechanism. To explain these issues, a triple-risk hypothesis has been proposed, whereby an underlying biological abnormality in an infant facing an extrinsic risk during a critical developmental period SIDS is hypothesized to occur. Each SIDS decedent is thus thought to have a unique combination of these risk factors leading to their death. This article reviews the neuropathological literature of SIDS and uses machine learning tools to identify distinct subtypes of SIDS decedents based on epidemiological data.Methods: We analyzed US Period Linked Birth/Infant Mortality Files from 1990 to 2017 (excluding 1992–1994). Using t-SNE, an unsupervised machine learning dimensionality reduction algorithm, we identified clusters of SIDS decedents. Following identification of these groups, we identified changes in the rates of SIDS at the state level and across three countries.Results: Through t-SNE and distance based statistical analysis, we identified three groups of SIDS decedents, each with a unique peak age of death. Within the US, SIDS is geographically heterogeneous. Following this, we found low birth weight and normal birth weight SIDS rates have not been equally impacted by implementation of clinical guidelines. We show that across countries with different levels of cultural heterogeneity, reduction in SIDS rates has also been distinct between decedents with low vs. normal birth weight.Conclusions: Different epidemiological and extrinsic risk factors exist based on the three unique SIDS groups we identified with t-SNE and distance based statistical measurements. Clinical guidelines have not equally impacted the groups, and normal birth weight infants comprise more of the cases of SIDS even though low birth weight infants have a higher SIDS rate.

The leading causes of infant death in the United States are congenital malformations, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. In 2023, congenital malformations accounted for around 20 percent of all infant deaths in the United States. Infant mortality in the United States Infant mortality refers to the death of a child under the age of one. In the United States, there were around 20,577 infant deaths in 2022. However, the infant mortality rate in the United States has decreased steadily over the past few decades. In 1990, the infant mortality rate was 9.4 per 1,000 live births, but had dropped to around 5.4 per 1,000 live births by 2022. Rates of infant mortality do vary depending on the state and region. For example, the infant mortality rate in Mississippi in 2022 was 9.11 per 1,000 live births, compared to a rate of just 3.32 per 1,000 live births in Massachusetts. What is sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)? Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the third leading cause of infant death in the United States with a rate of around 40 deaths per 100,000 live births. SIDS is the unexplained death of an infant. In such cases, the baby usually seems to be healthy but suddenly dies, often during sleep. The cause of SIDS is unknown, but may be connected to problems in the brain controlling breathing and waking from sleep. In 2022, there were an estimated 1,531 deaths from SIDS in the United States. Mississippi and Arkansas are the states with the highest rates of sudden unexpected infant death, while Massachusetts and California have the lowest rates.

The Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 consist of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) estimates for 234 countries and territories, 143 of which include subnational Units. The data are benchmarked to the year 2015 (Version 1 was benchmarked to the year 2000), and are drawn from national offices, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), and other sources from 2006 to 2014. In addition to Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 includes crude estimates of births and infant deaths, which could be aggregated or disaggregated to different geographies to calculate infant mortality rates at different scales or resolutions, where births are the rate denominator and infant deaths are the rate numerator. Boundary inputs are derived primarily from the Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) data collection. National and subnational data are mapped to grid cells at a spatial resolution of 30 arc-seconds (~1 km) (Version 1 has a spatial resolution of 1/4 degree, ~28 km at the equator), allowing for easy integration with demographic, environmental, and other spatial data.

Provisional estimates of infant mortality (deaths of infants under 1 year per 1,000 live births), neonatal mortality (deaths of infants aged 0-27 days per 1,000 live births), postneonatal mortality (deaths of infants aged 28 days through 11 months per 1,000 live births), and death rates for the five leading causes of infant death.

The Poverty Mapping Project: Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates data set consists of estimates of infant mortality rates for the year 2000. The infant mortality rate for a region or country is defined as the number of children who die before their first birthday for every 1,000 live births. The data products include a shapefile (vector data) of rates, grids (raster data) of rates (per 10,000 live births in order to preserve precision in integer format), births (the rate denominator) and deaths (the rate numerator), and a tabular data set of the same and associated data. Over 10,000 national and subnational Units are represented in the tabular and grid data sets, while the shapefile uses approximately 1,000 Units in order to protect the intellectual property of source data sets for Brazil, China, and Mexico. This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).