Black infants died at a rate of 10.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, the CDC said.
By Mary Kekatos and Dr. Harika Rayala
November 14, 2024, 12:01 AM
Infant mortality rates remained relatively unchanged from 2022 to 2023, but racial and ethnic disparities still persist, new provisional federal data released early Thursday finds.
The U.S. provisional infant mortality rate in 2023 was 5.61 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, unchanged from the 2022 rate, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
The report also found that infants born to Black mothers still died at much higher rates than those born to white and Asian mothers -- more than double the rate of white infant mortality, according to the CDC.
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Robin Jacob, an associate research professor at the Institute for Social Research and the School of Education at the University of Michigan, told ABC News she was not surprised by the findings.
"I am not surprised; in particular infant mortality among Black women and infants is consistently higher than for white women, but I am disappointed that despite increased awareness and efforts to reduce the disparities, we are not seeing any progress in reducing the infant mortality rate among this population,"
