US Infant Mortality Falls to Record Low 5.4 per 1,000 in 2025

3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Jun 16

Slightly under 5.4 infants per 1,000 live births died before age 1 in 2025, a statistically meaningful drop from 5.5 in 2024 that amounts to hundreds fewer deaths.
About 19,350 infant deaths were recorded last year in provisional CDC data, down from roughly 20,050 in 2024 and 20,160 in 2023.
Researchers cannot pinpoint one cause, but officials linked recent improvement to 2023 RSV protections for infants and pregnant women and to safer-sleep education that may be reducing sudden infant death syndrome.
Tuesday's CDC analysis of 2024 data showed declines for both newborns under 28 days and older infants, but stark disparities persisted: infants born to Black women died at more than twice the rate of those born to Hispanic, white and Asian American women.
Mississippi posted the highest 2024 infant mortality rate at 9.65 per 1,000 births, while New Hampshire was lowest at just under 3, underscoring the U.S.'s continued lag behind other high-income countries.