Return to Table of Contents Go to Map
Infant Mortality Rate
The Infant Mortality Rate is the number of deaths of infants under one
year of age per 1,000 live births. This measure is perhaps the most
important and widely used indicator of mortality among infants. Not
only is the infant mortality rate a measure of deaths of infants, it is
also an excellent gauge for the overall health of a community, as it is
associated with a wide range of social and economic factors.
The infant mortality rate is calculated by dividing the number of
deaths to infants under the age of 365 days occurring in a year by the
number of births occurring in that same year, and multiplying by 1,000.
There were 307 infant deaths and 36,982 live births in Arkansas in
2001. The Infant Mortality Rate = (307 / 36,982) X 1,000 = 8.3 infant
deaths per 1,000 live births. The infant mortality rate for the United
States in 2001 was 6.8.
The map indicates that infant mortality varies across the state.
Calhoun County had the highest average infant mortality rate for the
1997-2001 period at 17.9. The counties with the lowest average rates
are excellent examples of the limitations of the data. Infant
mortality rates are based on a small number of cases, only about one
percent of all live births. Five counties (Cleveland (1), Fulton (1),
Lafayette (2), Marion (2) and Woodruff (2)) had less than three infant
deaths in the entire five-year period from 1997 through 2001. This
results in very unstable rates. Therefore, great care must be taken in
drawing any conclusions based upon small numbers, especially when
comparing rates for individual counties.
One technique for dealing with the small numbers problem is to
aggregate the data over several years. Another technique is to add
several counties together to form larger units. The Public Health
Regions are one such aggregation. For the 1997-2001 period, the infant
mortality rates ranged from a high of 10.8 in the Southeast region to a
low of 6.7 in the Northwest region.
Infant mortality rates vary tremendously by race. Between 1997 and
2001 the average Arkansas rate was 14.2 for Blacks versus 7.2 for
Whites.
The Arkansas infant mortality rate has not changed significantly from
one year to the next except in 1998 when it reached a high of 9.2. It
must be cautioned that even when dealing with data for the entire
state, infant mortality rates are subject to considerable year-to-year
variation and what appear to be major changes may not be statistically
significant.
Nationally, the infant mortality rate has experienced a long-term
decline, dropping from 29.2 in 1950 to 6.8 in 2001.
Return to Table of Contents Go to Map