Define infant mortality, and explain how it is used in the demographic analysis of a population

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Throughout the world, large numbers of newborn infants do not live to see their first

birthday. The measure of these deaths is referred to as the infant mortality rate, which

is defined as the number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age per 1,000 live births in

a given year. The infant mortality rate is an important reflection of a society's level of

preventive (prenatal) medical care, maternal nutrition, childbirth procedures, and

neonatal care. Rates of infant mortality differ between countries and also within

countries. In the United States, the rate of infant mortality is higher for males (6.72)

than for females (5.37). The infant mortality rate also varies across racial groups. In

the United States in 2010, the infant mortality rate for white infants was 5.2 and 11.6

for African American infants. Globally, low-income countries like Afghanistan, Angola,

and Niger have high rates of infant mortality. The U.S. rate is 6.06, which is high

compared with Japan (2.78), Sweden (2.74), Singapore (2.32), and Monaco (1.79).