Dire state of infant mortality in America: New CDC map reveals huge racial gaps across the US

  • Infant mortality across the country has remained stable at 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births but there are significant disparities from state to state  
  • Massachusetts had the best infant survival rate, while Mississippi had the worst
  • There was a 4.8 per one thousand difference between the two during the period between 2013 and 2015  
  • Infant mortality rates were highest for babies of black mothers, more than tripling rates for newborns with white mothers in some states

Infant mortality rates in the US held steady from 2014 to 2015, but varied widely from state to state, according to the latest data from the CDC. 

Mississippi had the worst death rate in the country, with 9.08 babies per 1,000 dying annually, while Massachusetts had the best infant survival rate, with only 4.28 deaths per 1,000.

In keeping with recent findings in smaller studies, there were alarming disparities between the death rates for babies born of non-Hispanic white women and those whose mothers were women of color. 

Overall, the national average for infant mortality was 5.89 per 1,000 live births, though rates exceeded that average in 21 states. 

Based on the CDC's latest data, this map shows the variation of infant mortality rates from state to state in the US

Based on the CDC's latest data, this map shows the variation of infant mortality rates from state to state in the US

Infant mortality rates in the US have continued to decline since a 2005 peak, but remain higher - as of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 1013-2015 data - than in many other high-income countries, such as the UK, France, Germany and Canada. 

Yet it is the state of maternal fetal outcomes in individual states that have made headlines. 

Mississippi's 9.08 per 1,000 average falls between the averages of Bahrain and Thailand, according to the CIA's World Factbook mortality international infant mortality rankings. 

'Infant mortality has long been a basic measure of public health for countries around the world,' the CDC wrote in a press release.

If this is the case, the US seems to have some room for improvement. 

The state-to-state differences in newborns' survival rates became even more pronounced when the data was divided by race. 

Infant mortality rates were far lower (shown in light green) for babies of white women across the country
Black women were more likely to lose their infants in every state (shown in blue), with mortality rates tripling those of white mothers in some places

Infant mortality rates were far lower (shown in light green) for babies of white women (left) than they were for those of black women (right), who were more likely in every reporting state to lose their infants (shown in shades of blue)

'For infants of non-Hispanic black women, the lowest mortality rate of 8.27 in Massachusetts was higher than the highest state rates for infants of non-Hispanic white (7.04) and Hispanic (7.28) women,' the CDC found. 

Wisconsin had the worst outcomes for black infants at 14.28 deaths per 1,000 live births. 

That number is more than three times the death rate of non-Hispanic white babies in the same state.

The highest infant mortality rate for babies of Hispanic women was in Michigan, where 7.28 out of every 1,000 babies died, as compared to white women, who only lost 5.21 infants per 1,000 there.  

California, New Jersey and New York also all maintained rates below the national average for women and infants of all racial categories. 

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