Infant Mortality
The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of babies which occur for every 1,000 live births. Figures in the United States are available only for that part of the country known as the registration area, where the reporting of births and deaths is legally required. It is important that the birth of every child should be registered, and that laws requiring registration should be enforced in every State.
Deaths of Infants Under One Year of Age Per 1,000 Live Births in Foreign Countries[58]
| Country | Year | Rate |
| Russia | 1909 | 248 |
| Ceylon | 1912 | 215 |
| German Empire | 1911 | 192 |
| Austria | 1912 | 180 |
| Italy | 1911 | 153 |
| Switzerland | 1911 | 123 |
| England and Wales | 1912 | 95 |
| Ireland | 1912 | 86 |
| France | 1912 | 78 |
| Australia | 1912 | 72 |
| Norway | 1911 | 65 |
| New Zealand | 1912 | 51 |
The New York Milk Committee states that an infant mortality rate above 50 per 1,000 is preventable by sanitation, hygiene, prenatal care, and the instruction of mothers; and that a rate beyond this is unfair to the babies, and a disgrace to the community for its negligence.
Principal Causes of Death During Growth
Registration Area, United States, including about 65 per cent. of population. For the year 1913.
| Cause of Death | Under 1 Yr. | 1-2 Yrs. | 2-3 Yrs. | 3-4 Yrs. | 4-5 Yrs. | 5-9 Yrs. | 10-20 Yrs. |
| 1. Congenital debility | 60,551 | ||||||
| 2. Premature birth | 27,359 | ||||||
| 3. Injuries at birth | 5,131 | ||||||
| 4. Digestive | 43,243 | 9,942 | 2,653 | 1,124 | 697 | 1,968 | 2,939 |
| 5. Respiratory (except tuberculosis, chiefly pneumonia) | 25,274 | 9,272 | 3,567 | 1,724 | 1,055 | 2,296 | 2,502 |
| Tuberculosis | 2,491 | 1,879 | 1,053 | 693 | 507 | 1,702 | 8,350 |
| 6. Whooping cough | 3,442 | 1,516 | 596 | 301 | 152 | 246 | 40 |
| 7. Measles | 2,011 | 2,562 | 1,117 | 584 | 302 | 660 | 346 |
| 8. Diphtheria and croup | 913 | 1,857 | 1,781 | 1,498 | 1,293 | 3,171 | 918 |
| 9. Scarlet fever | 255 | 618 | 798 | 684 | 603 | 1,563 | 621 |
| 10. Influenza | 608 | 171 | 105 | 47 | 42 | 126 | 202 |
| 11. Smallpox[59] | 27 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
The death rate is higher during the first five years than at any other five-year period; higher during the first year than any other year; highest during the first month; and its maximum is during the first week of life.
It is estimated that about fifty per cent. of all children die before they are born. Life is conferred at conception, and miscarriage is really death before birth. The registration of stillbirths, with causes, should be required by law, as it now is in some foreign countries.
Diarrhea and other digestive disorders are prevalent causes in summer; pneumonia and colds in winter.
Of the deaths from summer diarrhea, about 90 per cent. are babies artificially fed, compared with 10 per cent. naturally fed.
Mortality in Pregnancy
United States Registration Area, 1913
| Puerperal septicemia (blood poisoning, due to lack of surgical cleanliness in care) | 4,542 |
| Albuminaria and convulsions (usually preventable by regular examination of urine) | 2,397 |
| Accidents (frequently preventable by prenatal hygiene and skilful medical supervision) | 2,703 |
| Other causes | 368 |
| 10,010 |
Most of these deaths were due to preventable causes.
Even with these preventable deaths, the chances of death in childbirth were only 1 in about 200 births.
In every community where instruction has been provided in prenatal hygiene and the care of infants, a marked reduction has resulted, both in prenatal deaths, in mortality in pregnancy, in infant mortality and in the inability of mothers to nurse their babies.