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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

Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2018

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

Infant deaths and mortality rates for the top 5 leading causes of death for African Americans, 2018 (Rates per 100,000 live births)

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

Percentage of mothers who received prenatal care (first trimester), 2019

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]

Percentage of mothers who received late or no prenatal care, 2019

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]

Percentage of mothers who smoked during pregnancy, 2019

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]

Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, 2018

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.

Last Modified: 7/9/2021 9:14:00 AM