What does infant mortality refer to?

Infant mortality refers specifically to the number of deaths among infants, typically defined as children less than one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year. This measurement is crucial in understanding the health outcomes related to pregnancy, childbirth, and early life, allowing for assessment of healthcare access, quality of maternal and infant care, and socio-economic conditions that may affect infant survival rates.

The reasoning behind using a rate per 1,000 live births rather than a rate per 100 is primarily to provide a more granular understanding of the prevalence of infant deaths in population studies, where larger denominators (like 1,000) help to create a clearer comparison across different regions or time periods. Furthermore, choosing rates based on live births allows for an accurate portrayal of the risk of mortality faced by infants during that crucial first year of life.