- The infant mortality rate in 2024 was 5.52 per 1,000 live births.
- Infant mortality ranged from 2.97 infant deaths per 1,000 births in New Hampshire to a high of 9.65 in Mississippi.
- Top causes of infant death include congenital malformations and low birth weight.
Infant mortality in the U.S. in 2025 seems to have reached a record low, according to preliminary data from the National Center for Health Statistics, which also released on Tuesday.
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The story for both years is largely similar: The number of neonatal and postnatal deaths has been falling, though the U.S. is still bested by similar countries that have fewer infant deaths.
“This is an encouraging data point and we hope that this trend will continue,” Dr. Michael Warren, chief medical and health officer for the March of Dimes, told Associated Press, while acknowledging that it’s hard to be certain what’s behind the decrease.
To track numbers, the center, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, linked nearly 99% of birth and death certificates from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Linked birth and death data was not available for American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands.
The data showed 20,048 infant deaths in 2024, which was about the same as in 2023. The infant mortality rate in 2024 was 5.52 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, down from 5.61 the previous year.
Infant mortality includes all deaths before a child’s first birthday, including neonatal deaths, which occur at less than four weeks of age and postnatal, which are deaths after 28 days up to a year.
The numbers
The neonatal death rate was 3.66 per 1,000 live births in 2024 and the report noted it “generally declined” since 1995 and has dropped 22% from the last time it increased, in 2002.
The postnatal mortality rate also fell, down to 1.87 in 2024. Per the report, that’s a 16% decrease since 2002.
There are some differences based on race. For instance, the neonatal mortality rate in 2024 for infants of Black women (6.82 per 1,000) was higher than that of American Indian and Alaska Native (5.33), Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (3.76), Hispanic (3.43), white (2.9) and Asian (2.81) women.
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Postnatal mortality was slightly different: 4.16 for infants of Black women, 4.05 for Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 3.87 for Native American and Alaska Native, white (1.51), Hispanic (1.45) and Asian (0.91).
Leading cause of death
The same top causes of death carried through from 2023:
- Congenital malformations (20.4%)
- Disorders from too-short gestation and low birth weight (14.6%)
- Sudden infant death syndrome (6.7%)
- Unintentional injuries (6.2%)
- Maternal complications (6%)
How states rank
According to the report, infant mortality ranged from 2.97 infant deaths per 1,000 births in New Hampshire to a high of 9.65 in Mississippi.
Ten states had fewer deaths than the U.S. infant mortality rate: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Washington.
For 16 states, the opposite was true. They had infant mortality rates “significantly higher” than the U.S. rate overall: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee.
U.S. vs. similar countries
AP reported on the progress made in the U.S. in terms of lowering infant mortality, noting the impact of medical advances and public health efforts.
But AP reporter Mike Stobbe wrote that “it has remained worse than other high-income countries, which experts have attributed to poverty, inadequate prenatal care and other problems. A study published last year found the U.S. infant mortality rate in 2022 — when the rate rose — was nearly twice as high as what was seen in several other high-income democratic nations, including Italy, Japan, Spain and Sweden.”
Among reasons being suggested for the decrease in infant mortality are the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and declining incidents of sudden infant death syndrome, which March of Dime’s Warren said could be linked to “an increase in education around safe sleeping for infants.”
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