The infant mortality rates has declined precipitously since 1975 for all racial/ethnic groups, and in 1998 the provisional rates were 14.3 deaths per thousand live births for blacks, 6.0 deaths per thousand for whites, and 7.2 deaths per thousand for all races."" 
23
HEALTH STATUS Infant
I N F A N T   M O R T A L I T Y
U.S. INFANT MORTALITY RATES BY RACE OF MOTHER:  1975-1998
In 1998, 28,371 infants died before their
Source (II.4):  National Center for Health Statistics
first birthday. The infant mortality rate was 7.2
deaths per 1,000 live births. This rate was
25
unchanged from 1997.
The rapid decline in infant mortality, which
began in the mid 1960s, slowed for both blacks
and whites during the 1980s. Between 1997
and 1998, the rate of death among white
20
Black*
infants remained unchanged at 6.0, while the
rate for blacks increased from 14.2 to 14.3.
The 1998 infant mortality rate for black
infants was 2.4 times the rate for white infants.
15
Although the trend in infant mortality rates
14.3
among blacks and whites has been on a contin-
All Races*
ual decline throughout the 20th century, the
proportional discrepancy between the black
ber of Infant Deaths Per 1,000 Live Births
and white races has remained largely
10
unchanged.
Num
White*
7.2
6.0
5
1975 1977 1979 1981 19831985 1987 1988 19901991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Year
*Includes the ethnic classification of Hispanic.
<<  <  GO  >  >>