Infant mortality rates increased by 3% in 2022 compared with 2021 and marks the second straight year of increases, according to the CDC.
The CDC and National Center for Health Statistics linked birth and death data sets for infants using the National Vital Statistics System.
In 2021, the infant death rate was 5.44 deaths per 1,000 live births. That rate rose to 5.61 per 1,000 in 2022, which equates to about 20,577 more infant deaths.
Infants of Black women had the highest mortality rate at 10.90 per 1,000 births in 2022. The next highest mortality rates were seen in infants of American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic women at 9.06, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander non-Hispanic women at 8.50, Hispanic women at 4.89, White non-Hispanic women at 4.52 and Asian non-Hispanic women at 3.51.
Infant mortality rates by state ranged from a low of 3.32 in Massachusetts to a high of 9.11 in Mississippi. Mississippi is the only state with a mortality rate over 8.00.
The leading causes of all infant deaths remained the same in 2021 and 2022, including congenital malformations, disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, unintentional injuries and maternal complications.
The death rate is still lower than in 1995, the first year that data is available, when infant deaths were 7.57 per 1,000.