The United States experienced a sharp rise in infant mortality in 2022, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data, despite the figure having generally trended down for decades.
The three percent rise in deaths, especially prominent among Native American and white children, is the highest in 20 years, with infant deaths up by 610 compared to 2021 to over 20,500. Some states were hit unusually hard, with Texas accounting for 251 of these additional deaths.
The death rate in the general population was down by five percent in 2022, supposedly as a result of COVID-19 fatalities among the elderly declining, making the rise in infant deaths all the more concerning.
Public health experts claim the rise is currently inexplicable, with the lead author of the CDC’s infant mortality report, Danielle Ely, saying it is “hard to parse out exactly what places, policies or other factors are behind the national statistic.”
The two main drivers of inant mortality, bacterial meningitis and “maternal complications”, have increased significantly.
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