World infant mortality rates released.Infant Mortality rates infant mortality rate n. The ratio of the number of deaths in the first year of life to the number of live births occurring in the same population during the same period of time. are often used as a tool to compare the general health of populations around the world. Infant mortality (hardware) infant mortality - It is common lore among hackers (and in the electronics industry at large) that the chances of sudden hardware failure drop off exponentially with a machine's time since first use (that is, until the relatively distant time at which enough mechanical is defined as the death of a baby less than one year old, and is measured by the number of such deaths per 1000 live births. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the National Center for Health Statistics National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NCHS is the United States' principal health statistics agency. , the leading causes of death in infants are congenital abnormalities Noun 1. congenital abnormality - a defect that is present at birth birth defect, congenital anomaly, congenital defect, congenital disorder ablepharia - a congenital absence of eyelids (partial or complete) , preterm preterm /pre·term/ (-term´) before completion of the full term; said of pregnancy or of an infant. pre·term adj. or low birth weight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) or crib death, sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant under one year of age (usually between two weeks and eight months old). (SIDS SIDS sudden infant death syndrome. SIDS abbr. sudden infant death syndrome SIDS, n See syndrome, sudden infant death. ), problems related to complications of pregnancy Complications of pregnancy are the symptoms and problems that are associated with pregnancy. There are both routine problems and serious, even potentially fatal problems. The routine problems are normal complications, and pose no significant danger to either the woman or the fetus. , and respiratory distress syndrome respiratory distress syndrome or hyaline membrane disease Common complication in newborns, especially after premature birth. Symptoms include very laboured breathing, bluish skin tinge, and low blood oxygen levels. . While the Centers for Disease Control have released the infant mortality statistics for the US for 2002, worldwide data for comparison is only available for 2000. Evaluating the data for 2000 indicates a continuing trend several decades old; infant mortality rates continue to decline worldwide. The United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. shares in this trend; in 1960 the U.S. infant mortality rate was 26 infant deaths per 1000 births, ranking 11th best in the world. 2000 finds the U.S. infant mortality rate at just 6.9 deaths per 1000 (talbe follows). While the percentage of deaths dropped dramatically, our world ranking is now only 27th. There are probably several reasons why the country that has and uses the most technology during birth ranks below 26 other countries in the world in infant mortality. One might question whether the widespread use of technology during birth in the U.S is actually improving birth outcomes. Racial and ethnic disparities also play a part in the low ranking. In 2000 African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. infant mortality rates were at 14.1 deaths per 1000 live births, which is more than twice the national average (6.9 deaths per 1000). Among Native Americans, SIDS deaths account for 2.3 times the rate for non-Hispanic white mothers.
INFANT MORTALITY RATES
(Infant deaths per 1,000 live births)
COUNTRY RANKING RATE
2000 1960 2000 1960
Singapore 1 21 2.5 34.8
Hong Kong 2 26 3 41.5
Japan 3 18 3.2 30.7
Sweden 4 1 3.4 16.6
Norway 5 3 3.8 18.9
Finland 5 6 3.8 21
Spain 7 28 3.9 43.7
Czech Republic 8 4 4.1 20
Germany 9 22 4.4 35
Italy 10 29 4.5 43.9
France 11 15 4.6 27.5
Austria 12 24 4.8 37.5
Belgium 12 20 4.8 31.2
Switzerland 14 7 4.9 21.1
Northern Ireland 15 13 5.1 27.2
Netherlands 15 2 5.1 17.9
Australia 17 5 5.2 20.2
Denmark 18 8 5.3 21.5
Canada 18 14 5.3 27.3
Israel 20 19 5.4 31
Portugal 21 35 5.5 77.5
England and Wales 22 9 5.6 22.4
Scotland 23 12 5.7 26.4
Greece 24 25 6.1 40.1
Ireland 25 17 6.2 29.3
New Zealand 26 10 6.3 22.6
United States 27 11 6.9 26
Cuba 28 23 7.2 37.3
Poland 29 32 8.1 56.1
Slovakia 30 16 8.6 28.6
Chile 31 36 8.9 125.1
Hungary 32 31 9.2 47.6
Puerto Rico 33 27 9.9 43.3
Costa Rica 34 33 10.2 67.8
Bulgaria 35 30 13.3 45.1
Russian Federation 36 0 15.2
Romania 37 34 18.6 75.7
SOURCES: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD): OECD Health Data 2003, A Comparative Analysis of 30
Countries, www.oecd.org/els/health/; United Nations: 2000
Demographic Yearbook, United Nations Publication, World Health
Organization Statistical Information System (WHOSIS); United States
and Puerto Rico: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Statistics of the
United States Public Health Service; Sweden: Statistics Sweden;
Costa Rica: Direccion General de Estadisticas y Censos. Elaboracion
y estimacion, Centro. Poblacion, Universidad de Costa Rica, Russian
Federation: Goskomstat, http://www.gks.ru/eng/. Israel: Central
Bureau Statistics of Israel, www.cbs.gov.il/engindex.htm.
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