Infant mortality

Infant mortality is the death of infants in the first year of life. Major causes of infant mortality include congenital malformation, infection and SIDS.

Infanticide, abuse, abandonment, and neglect may also contribute to infant mortality.

Related statistical categories:

• Perinatal mortality only includes deaths between the foetal viability (28 weeks gestation or 1000g) and the end of the 7th day after delivery.
• Neonatal mortality only includes deaths in the first 27 days of life.
• Post-neonatal death only includes deaths after 28 days of life but before one year.
• Child mortality includes deaths within the first five years.

Infant mortality rate is the number of newborns dying under a year of age divided by the number of live births during the year. The infant mortality rate is also called the infant death rate. In past times, infant mortality claimed a considerable percentage of children born, but the rates have significantly declined in the West over the last several hundred years, mainly due to improvements in basic health care, though high technology medical advances have also helped.