Infant Mortality in California Hits an All-Time Low
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SACRAMENTO — California’s infant mortality rate reached a new low last year with 9.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, the state Department of Health Services reports.
The rate in 1983 was 9.7, according to state Health Director Kenneth Kizer.
If improvement persists, Kizer predicted that California’s infant death rate could easily reach the national objective of nine deaths per 1,000 live births before 1990.
Among the factors in California’s improvement include better socioeconomic conditions, increased use of prenatal care services and important technological advances in neonatal intensive care, Kizer said.
As recently as 1950, California’s infant death rate was 24.9 per 1,000 live births.
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