About Infant Mortality
Summary
Infant mortality is the term used to describe the death of a baby that occurs between the time it is born and 1 year of age. If a baby dies before age 28 days, the death can also be classified as neonatal mortality.
The infant mortality rate—that is, the number of infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births—is an important factor in understanding a population’s overall health because many factors that contribute to infant deaths also affect the health of everyone in a population.1 For example, access to medicine, trained healthcare providers, clean water, and food affect everyone’s health, but can also have a dramatic effect on infant mortality rates.
Source: National Institute of Health (2021). About Infant Mortality.