Infant Mortality is a demographic variable that indicates the number of children under one year of age who died over a given period of time.
In general, infant mortality is expressed as a rate or index, and it is that which gives the proportion between the number of children under one year of age who died in the course of a year and the number of live births during the same year. It is expressed as a percentage or as much per thousand, and it is grouped by age or months of birth, sex, town or country, or social group.
Infant mortality is usually distinguished by several categories: early neonatal , which ranges from birth to the first week of life; neonatal, up to the first month of life; and postneonatal , from birth to one year of age. Although the infant mortality rate is measured in children under 1 year, it has also sometimes been measured in children under 5 or 9 years old, this category that includes children over one year of age is called infant .
It is important to note that the infant mortality rate reflects much better the effects of a country's socio-economic level than the overall mortality rate. The first year of life is the most critical in the life of human beings and combating mortality in that year requires a cultural level that the most backward countries do not have.
Infant mortality in developed countries is usually very low; in 2008, it was 6.2% in the US and 3.9% in Germany. On the other hand, underdeveloped countries continue to show very high rates, as in the cases of Haiti with 60%, Bolivia with 45%, and the vast majority of African countries, where it exceeds 100 per thousand; for example, Niger with 116.6% and Angola with 180% (registered as the worst in the world).
The eradication of diseases, prenatal care, hygiene conditions, as well as the number of health centers and their equipment per number of inhabitants, are one of the many factors that favor the reduction of the infant mortality rate, it is expected that in the coming years it will continue to decline in less developed countries.
