Change Indicator

Infant mortality in Connecticut

Infant mortality

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Note: Non-consecutive years appear adjacent in the trend line
because one or more years have been deselected.

Why This Indicator Matters

Maternal access to and quality of medical care, socio-economic conditions, as well as maternal health behaviors, are correlated with infant mortality, and further mean that infant mortality is a key indicator of the health of a nation. The infant mortality rate in the United States continues to far outpace that of similarly developed nations. [i]  Disparities in the above risk factors disproportionately affect women of color, and infant mortality rates are correspondingly disproportionately high among the infants of Hispanic or Latina women, as well as non-Hispanic Black or African American women. From 2013-2015 nationwide, infant mortality rates ranged from 4.28 deaths per 1,000 live births in Massachusetts to 9.08 deaths per 1,000 live births in Mississippi.[ii] During the 2017-2019 period, for which data on Connecticut’s 169 towns is most recently available, rates ranged from 0 to 9.32 (Westbrook) deaths per 1,000 live births.



[i] MacDorman, M. F., Mathews, T. J., Mohangoo, A. D., & Zeitlin, J. (2014). International comparisons of infant mortality and related factors: United States and Europe, 2010.

[ii] Mathews, T. J., Ely, D. M., & Driscoll, A. K. (2018). State variations in infant mortality by race and Hispanic origin of mother, 2013–2015.

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Definition and Source

PROVIDER

Definition

This indicator reports the number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age and the rate of infant mortality per 1,000 live births.

Data Source

Connecticut Department of Public Health, Vital Statistics, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 Table 7, Table 2B.

Notes

The total numbers of deaths of infants under 1 year of age were obtained from State Department of Public Health Vital Statistics tables. Totals include births to Connecticut residents that occurred out-of-state. The rates of infant mortality per 1000 births were calculated by the author, by dividing the total number of births population by 1000, and then by dividing the total number infant deaths for each town by this quotient. Counts of infant deaths of five or fewerexcluding zerowere suppressed, as were rates derived from suppressed totals. Denominators used for calculating rates exclude records with missing data.

NA: Not Available
S: Data Suppressed

The data source has not published new data for this indicator in recent years, but the indicator will be updated on the KIDS COUNT Data Center if or when new data are released. Until then, these data may provide useful historical information for those working in this field.

Last Updated

December 2022