Infant Mortality and American Indians/Alaska Natives
- American Indian/Alaska Natives have almost twice the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites.
- American Indian/Alaska Native infants are 2.7 times more likely than non-Hispanic white infants to die from accidental deaths before the age of one year.
- American Indian/Alaska Native infants are 50 percent more likely to die from complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic white infants.
- In 2019, American Indian/Alaska Native mothers were almost three times as likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.
- American Indian/Alaska Native mothers are 70 percent more likely to smoke during pregnancy as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.
Infant Mortality Rate
| American Indian/Alaska Native* | White* | All Races | American Indian/Alaska Native / White Ratio |
| 8.2 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 1.8 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
Leading Causes of Infant Mortality
| Cause of Death(By rank) | # American Indian/Alaska Native Deaths | American Indian/Alaska Native Death Rate | # White Deaths | White Death Rate | American Indian/Alaska Native / White Ratio |
| (1) Low-Birthweight | 45 | 154.7 | 2,178 | 111.3 | 1.4 |
| (2) Congenital Malformations | 27 | 92.8 | 1,215 | 62.1 | 1.5 |
| (3) Maternal Complications | 23 | 92.8 | 580 | 29.7 | 2.7 |
| (4) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) | 17 | -- | 635 | 32.5 | -- |
| (5) Accidents (unintentional injuries) | 7 | -- | 446 | 22.8 | -- |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
Characteristics of Mother
| American Indian/Alaska Native | White | American Indian/Alaska Native / White Ratio |
| 63.7 | 82.8 | 0.8 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1MB]
| American Indian/Alaska Native | White | American Indian/Alaska Native / White Ratio |
| 13.0 | 4.5 | 2.9 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1MB]
| American Indian/Alaska Native | White | American Indian/Alaska Native / White Ratio |
| 14.6 | 8.8 | 1.7 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1MB]
| Age of Mother | American Indian/Alaska Native | White | American Indian/Alaska Native / White Ratio |
| Under 20 years | 8.5 | 8.5 | 1.0 |
| 20-24 years | 9.3 | 6.1 | 1.5 |
| 25-29 years | 7.4 | 4.7 | 1.6 |
| 30-34 years | 7.9 | 3.6 | 2.2 |
| 35-39 years | 7.5 | 4.1 | 1.8 |
| 40-54 years | -- | 5.6 | -- |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
*All data in the above surveys relate to non-Hispanic American Indians/Alaska Natives and non-Hispanic whites.
Date Last Reviewed: July 2021