Shocker: US Infant Mortality Rate

This, from CNN:
Worldwide, an estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a new report. American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, Save the Children researchers found.

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scotrace said:

This, from CNN:
Worldwide, an estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a new report. American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, Save the Children researchers found.

Full Story

Click to expand...

How does that square with the CIA World Fact Book?:

Rank Country Amount (top to bottom)
#1 Angola 192.5
#2 Afghanistan 165.96
#3 Mozambique 137.08
#4 Liberia 130.51
#5 Niger 122.66
#6 Mali 117.99
#7 Guinea-Bissau 108.72
#8 Djibouti 105.54
#9 Malawi 104.23
#10 Bhutan 102.56
#11 Ethiopia 102.12
#12 Rwanda 101.68
#13 Burkina Faso 98.67
#14 Cote d'Ivoire 97.1
#15 Chad 94.78
#16 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 94.69
#17 Congo, Republic of the 93.86
#18 Central African Republic 92.15
#19 Guinea 91.82
#20 Equatorial Guinea 87.08
#21 Laos 87.06
#22 Benin 85.88
#23 Lesotho 85.22
#24 Azerbaijan 82.07
#25 Madagascar 78.52
#26 Comoros 77.22
#27 Eritrea 75.59
#28 Pakistan 74.43
#29 Haiti 74.38
#30 Cambodia 73.67
#31 Gambia, The 73.48
#32 Mauritania 72.35
#33 Nigeria 70.49
#34 Burundi 70.4
#35 Botswana 69.98
#36 Namibia 69.58
#37 Cameroon 69.18
#38 Burma 68.78
#39 Nepal 68.77
#40 Bangladesh 64.32
#41 Mayotte 64.19
#42 Kenya 62.62
#43 Maldives 58.32
#44 India 57.92
#45 Senegal 56.53
#46 Mongolia 55.45
#47 Bolivia 54.58
#48 Gabon 54.34
#49 Papua New Guinea 53.15
#50 Iraq 52.71
#51 Ghana 52.22
#52 Kiribati 49.9
#53 Cape Verde 49.14
#54 East Timor 48.86
#55 Sao Tome and Principe 44.58
#56 Morocco 43.25
#57 Iran 42.86
#58 Moldova 41
#59 Guyana 37.22
#60 Guatemala 36.91
#61 Indonesia 36.82
#62 Kyrgyzstan 36.81
#63 Egypt 33.9
#64 Dominican Republic 33.28
#65 Peru 32.95
#66 Algeria 32.16
#67 Micronesia, Federated States of 31.28
#68 Brazil 30.66
#69 Kazakhstan 30.54
#70 Marshall Islands 30.5
#71 Nicaragua 30.15
#72 Honduras 29.64
#73 Samoa 28.72
#74 Romania 27.24
#75 Paraguay 26.67
#76 Belize 26.37
#77 El Salvador 25.93
#78 Libya 25.7
#79 Bahamas, The 25.7
#80 Lebanon 25.48
#81 China 25.28
#82 Korea, North 24.84
#83 Ecuador 24.49
#84 Philippines 24.24
#85 Armenia 24.16
#86 Gaza Strip 23.54
#87 Albania 22.31
#88 Anguilla 21.91
#89 Bosnia and Herzegovina 21.88
#90 Colombia 21.72
#91 Mexico 21.69
#92 Bulgaria 21.31
#93 Panama 20.95
#94 Oman 20.26
#95 Antigua and Barbuda 20.18
#96 Saint Helena 19.85
#97 Georgia 19.34
#98 Qatar 19.32
#99 Malaysia 18.35
#100 Jordan 18.11
#101 British Virgin Islands 18.05
#102 Bahrain 17.91
#103 Russia 16.96
#104 Greenland 16.31
#105 Mauritius 15.57
#106 Palau 15.3
#107 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 15.24
#108 Saint Kitts and Nevis 14.94
#109 Dominica 14.75
#110 Grenada 14.62
#111 Saint Lucia 13.95
#112 Saudi Arabia 13.7
#113 Belarus 13.62
#114 Brunei 13.05
#115 Fiji 12.99
#116 Jamaica 12.81
#117 Barbados 12.61
#118 French Guiana 12.46
#119 Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of 11.74
#120 Netherlands Antilles 10.37
#121 Kuwait 10.26
#122 Costa Rica 10.26
#123 Nauru 10.14
#124 Latvia 9.67
#125 American Samoa 9.48
#126 Chile 9.05
#127 Guadeloupe 8.83
#128 Bermuda 8.79
#129 Poland 8.73
#130 Hungary 8.68
#131 French Polynesia 8.61
#132 Cayman Islands 8.41
#133 Puerto Rico 8.37
#134 Estonia 8.08
#135 Reunion 7.95
#136 New Caledonia 7.89
#137 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 7.76
#138 Montserrat 7.56
#139 Cyprus 7.36
#140 Martinique 7.27
#141 Northern Mariana Islands 7.25
#142 Israel 7.21
#143 Korea, South 7.18
#144 Guam 7.15
#145 Lithuania 7.13
#146 Croatia 6.96
#147 Cuba 6.45
#148 Faroe Islands 6.38
#149 Italy 6.07
#150 Man, Isle of 6.05
#151 Aruba 6.02
#152 New Zealand 5.96
#153 San Marino 5.85
#154 Greece 5.63
#155 Monaco 5.53
#156 Ireland 5.5
#157 Jersey 5.33
#158 Gibraltar 5.22
#159 Portugal 5.13
#160 Netherlands 5.11
#161 Luxembourg 4.88
#162 Canada 4.82
#163 Guernsey 4.78
#164 Liechtenstein 4.77
#165 Belgium 4.76
#166 Australia 4.76
#167 Austria 4.68
#168 Denmark 4.63
#169 Macau 4.39
#170 France 4.31
#171 Germany 4.2
#172 Andorra 4.05
#173 Czech Republic 3.97
#174 Malta 3.94
#175 Norway 3.73
#176 Finland 3.59
#177 Iceland 3.31
#178 Japan 3.28
#179 Hong Kong 2.97
We are so far down that we don't show up on this list. Our ranking is 184th out of 224 nations gathered. This story sounds like a lot of huey to me. The facts just don't square with this story.
Can you say someone is pushing an agenda?

Regards,

J

jamespowers said:

Can you say someone is pushing an agenda?

Regards,

J

Click to expand...

More Stem-cell research is needed to save American infants!
We might as well get rid of all the guns to help too. lol

The CIA factbook i just looked at (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html) has the US at 184th out of 224.

Slightly different numbers than the ones James posted, though ... These are the 2006 estimates.


1 Angola 185.36 2006 est.
2 Sierra Leone 160.39 2006 est.
3Afghanistan 160.23 2006 est.
4Liberia 155.76 2006 est.
5Mozambique 129.24 2006 est.
6Niger 118.25 2006 est.
7Somalia 114.89 2006 est.
8Mali 107.58 2006 est.
9Tajikistan 106.49 2006 est.
10Guinea-Bissau 105.21 2006 est.
11Djibouti 102.44 2006 est.
12Bhutan 98.41 2006 est.
13Nigeria 97.14 2006 est.
14Tanzania 96.48 2006 est.
15Malawi 94.37 2006 est.
16Ethiopia 93.62 2006 est.
17Chad 91.45 2006 est.
18Burkina Faso 91.35 2006 est.
19Guinea 90.00 2006 est.
20Rwanda 89.61 2006 est.
21Equatorial Guinea 89.21 2006 est.
22Cote d'Ivoire 89.11 2006 est.
23Congo, Democratic Republic of the 88.62 2006 est.
24Lesotho 87.24 2006 est.
25Zambia 86.84 2006 est.
26Central African Republic 85.63 2006 est.
27Congo, Republic of the 85.29 2006 est.
28Laos 83.31 2006 est.
29Benin 79.56 2006 est.
30Azerbaijan 79.00 2006 est.
31Madagascar 75.21 2006 est.
32Comoros 72.85 2006 est.
33Turkmenistan 72.56 2006 est.
34Swaziland 71.85 2006 est.
35Haiti 71.65 2006 est.
36Gambia, The 71.58 2006 est.
37Pakistan 70.45 2006 est.
38Uzbekistan 69.99 2006 est.
39Mauritania 69.48 2006 est.
40Cambodia 68.78 2006 est.
41Uganda 66.15 2006 est.
42Nepal 65.32 2006 est.
43Cameroon 63.52 2006 est.
44Burundi 63.13 2006 est.
45Burma 61.85 2006 est.
46Sudan 61.05 2006 est.
47Bangladesh 60.83 2006 est.
48Mayotte 60.76 2006 est.
49South Africa 60.66 2006 est.
50Togo 60.63 2006 est.
51Yemen 59.88 2006 est.
52Kenya 59.26 2006 est.
53Ghana 55.02 2006 est.
54Maldives 54.89 2006 est.
55India 54.63 2006 est.
56Gabon 54.51 2006 est.
57Vanuatu 53.80 2006 est.
58Botswana 53.70 2006 est.
59Senegal 52.94 2006 est.
60Mongolia 52.12 2006 est.
61Bolivia 51.77 2006 est.
62Zimbabwe 51.71 2006 est.
63Papua New Guinea 49.96 2006 est.
64World 48.87 2006 est.
65Iraq 48.64 2006 est.
66Namibia 48.10 2006 est.
67Kiribati 47.27 2006 est.
68Cape Verde 46.52 2006 est.
69Eritrea 46.30 2006 est.
70East Timor 45.89 2006 est.
71Sao Tome and Principe 41.83 2006 est.
72Iran 40.30 2006 est.
73Morocco 40.24 2006 est.
74Turkey 39.69 2006 est.
75Moldova 38.38 2006 est.
76Kyrgyzstan 34.49 2006 est.
77Indonesia 34.39 2006 est.
78Guyana 32.19 2006 est.
79Egypt 31.33 2006 est.
80Guatemala 30.94 2006 est.
81Peru 30.94 2006 est.
82Algeria 29.87 2006 est.
83Micronesia, Federated States of 29.16 2006 est.
84Syria 28.61 2006 est.
85Brazil 28.60 2006 est.
86Marshall Islands 28.43 2006 est.
87Kazakhstan 28.30 2006 est.
88Dominican Republic 28.25 2006 est.
89Nicaragua 28.11 2006 est.
90Samoa 26.85 2006 est.
91Honduras 25.82 2006 est.
92Romania 25.50 2006 est.
93Vietnam 25.14 2006 est.
94Trinidad and Tobago 25.05 2006 est.
95Belize 24.89 2006 est.
96Paraguay 24.78 2006 est.
97Bahamas, The 24.68 2006 est.
98El Salvador 24.39 2006 est.
99Tunisia 23.84 2006 est.
100Lebanon 23.72 2006 est.
101Libya 23.71 2006 est.
102Korea, North 23.29 2006 est.
103China 23.12 2006 est.
104Suriname 23.02 2006 est.
105Ecuador 22.87 2006 est.
106Philippines 22.81 2006 est.
107Armenia 22.47 2006 est.
108Gaza Strip 22.40 2006 est.
109Venezuela 21.54 2006 est.
110Albania 20.75 2006 est.
111Solomon Islands 20.63 2006 est.
112Colombia 20.35 2006 est.
113Anguilla 20.32 2006 est.
114Mexico 20.26 2006 est.
115Bulgaria 19.85 2006 est.
116Thailand 19.49 2006 est.
117Tuvalu 19.47 2006 est.
118West Bank 19.15 2006 est.
119Oman 18.89 2006 est.
120Antigua and Barbuda 18.86 2006 est.
121Saint Helena 18.34 2006 est.
122Qatar 18.04 2006 est.
123Georgia 17.97 2006 est.
124Malaysia 17.16 2006 est.
125Bahrain 16.80 2006 est.
126Jordan 16.76 2006 est.
127British Virgin Islands 16.72 2006 est.
128Panama 16.37 2006 est.
129Jamaica 15.98 2006 est.
130Greenland 15.40 2006 est.
131Turks and Caicos Islands 15.18 2006 est.
132Seychelles 15.14 2006 est.
133Russia 15.13 2006 est.
134Argentina 14.73 2006 est.
135Mauritius 14.59 2006 est.
136Palau 14.46 2006 est.
137Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 14.40 2006 est.
138Grenada 14.27 2006 est.
139Saint Kitts and Nevis 14.12 2006 est.
140United Arab Emirates 14.09 2006 est.
141Sri Lanka 13.97 2006 est.
142Dominica 13.71 2006 est.
143Saint Lucia 13.17 2006 est.
144Belarus 13.00 2006 est.
145Saudi Arabia 12.81 2006 est.
146Serbia and Montenegro 12.52 2006 est.
147Fiji 12.30 2006 est.
148Tonga 12.30 2006 est.
149Brunei 12.25 2006 est.
150Barbados 11.77 2006 est.
151French Guiana 11.76 2006 est.
152Uruguay 11.61 2006 est.
153Ukraine 9.90 2006 est.
154Bosnia and Herzegovina 9.82 2006 est.
155Macedonia 9.81 2006 est.
156Nauru 9.78 2006 est.
157Netherlands Antilles 9.76 2006 est.
158Kuwait 9.71 2006 est.
159Costa Rica 9.70 2006 est.
160Latvia 9.35 2006 est.
161Puerto Rico 9.14 2006 est.
162American Samoa 9.07 2006 est.
163Chile 8.58 2006 est.
164Guadeloupe 8.41 2006 est.
165Hungary 8.39 2006 est.
166Bermuda 8.30 2006 est.
167French Polynesia 8.29 2006 est.
168Cayman Islands 8.00 2006 est.
169Virgin Islands 7.86 2006 est.
170Estonia 7.73 2006 est.
171Reunion 7.63 2006 est.
172New Caledonia 7.57 2006 est.
173Saint Pierre and Miquelon 7.38 2006 est.
174Slovakia 7.26 2006 est.
175Poland 7.22 2006 est.
176Montserrat 7.19 2006 est.
177Cyprus 7.04 2006 est.
178Northern Mariana Islands 6.98 2006 est.
179Martinique 6.95 2006 est.
180Israel 6.89 2006 est.
181Guam 6.81 2006 est.
182Lithuania 6.78 2006 est.
183Croatia 6.72 2006 est.
184United States 6.43 2006 est.
185Taiwan 6.29 2006 est.
186Cuba 6.22 2006 est.
187Korea, South 6.16 2006 est.
188Faroe Islands 6.12 2006 est.
189Italy 5.83 2006 est.
190Isle of Man 5.82 2006 est.
191Aruba 5.79 2006 est.
192New Zealand 5.76 2006 est.
193San Marino 5.63 2006 est.
194Greece 5.43 2006 est.
195Monaco 5.35 2006 est.
196Ireland 5.31 2006 est.
197Jersey 5.16 2006 est.
198European Union 5.10 2006 est.
199United Kingdom 5.08 2006 est.
200Gibraltar 5.06 2006 est.
201Portugal 4.98 2006 est.
202Netherlands 4.96 2006 est.
203Luxembourg 4.74 2006 est.
204Canada 4.69 2006 est.
205Guernsey 4.65 2006 est.
206Liechtenstein 4.64 2006 est.
207Australia 4.63 2006 est.
208Belgium 4.62 2006 est.
209Austria 4.60 2006 est.
210Denmark 4.51 2006 est.
211Slovenia 4.40 2006 est.
212Spain 4.37 2006 est.
213Macau 4.35 2006 est.
214Switzerland 4.34 2006 est.
215France 4.21 2006 est.
216Germany 4.12 2006 est.
217Andorra 4.04 2006 est.
218Czech Republic 3.89 2006 est.
219Malta 3.86 2006 est.
220Norway 3.67 2006 est.
221Finland 3.55 2006 est.
222Iceland 3.29 2006 est.
223Japan 3.24 2006 est.
224Hong Kong 2.95 2006 est.
225Sweden 2.76 2006 est.
226Singapore 2.29 2006 est.

Confirming Scott's article, " U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says", i don't see many of the "developed" countries above the US on that list ... Lots below.

What propaganda would that be? Are we suggesting that somehow CNN hates America? Or Save the Children bears such a terrible grudge against America? Come on.

bk

I don't know about other countries, but here, doctors go to great lengths to save high-risk babies: they're surgically delivered and painstakingly incubated. Perhaps many of them die regardless, and drive up the statistics. (Just a thought, I don't know for sure.) In other parts of the world, they'd have been stillborn.

Well, I'm glad out little one was born and treated in Sweden rather than Kraplekistan anyway.

Born 3 1/2 months premature and here she is 9 months later...



*********************************************

B
T

Speaking from the point of view of a scientist, statistics are far too easy to use as propaganda. Simple averages and correlations are especially bothersome. For example, one could state in a news release that the average household income of a community just increased 600%. Of course it is conveniently left out that Donald Trump just moved in, and the rest of the community still lives below the poverty line. Did you hear that ice cream consumption is directly correlated with increased risk of shark attack?! Just so happens that more people eat ice cream in the summer, when they are also entering the ocean in droves.

See the point?!

So the U.S. has the second worst infant mortality rate among developed nations? Consider how many more babies are born in this country compared to other developed countries. The article doesn't mention much about causes for the mortality, except that it's mostly in very small/premature infants. The "study" linked infant mortality to socio-economic & education status (a common trend in a huge number of demographic studies). In addition to the shear number of infants born here versus other countries, also consider how many more are born prematurely (due to any number of reasons) that would have never made it in many other parts of the world.

Sorry, but I view such articles with a lot of skepticism unless they are backed with sound (and cited) scientific data.

Mike K. said:

Sorry, but I view such articles with a lot of skepticism unless they are backed with sound (and cited) scientific data.

Click to expand...

Good points all around and I view these studies with the same degree of skepticism.
Find the group behind the study and see what they stump for. Put more simply---follow the money.

Regards to all,

J

Baron Kurtz said:

The CIA factbook i just looked at (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html) has the US at 184th out of 224.

Slightly different numbers than the ones James posted, though ... These are the 2006 estimates.


Confirming Scott's article, " U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says", i don't see many of the "developed" countries above the US on that list ... Lots below.

What propaganda would that be? Are we suggesting that somehow CNN hates America? Or Save the Children bears such a terrible grudge against America? Come on.

bk

Click to expand...

Those are "estimates." Until the year has ended we know nothing. Estimates are just that. I prefer to take that which is precedent. You are going to estimate a whole year only five months into it? Come on. lol
CNN and Save the Children both have an agenda. They will glom onto anything that makes their point even if only 40% of the numbers are in. When is the last time you used 5 months out of a year's data to forecast something? Let's use historical data and move forward.

Regards to all,

J

This is such a sad subject no matter how you look at it. It's simply a tragedy when a new life doesn't have a chance to experience the world, all of it's merits and flaws. I wonder how those statistics looked one hundred years ago when a majority of folks did home delivery. My great grandmother had every one of her children at home, and thankfully they all survived.

And BellyTank, your little one is absolutely adorable, I'm so happy for you and yours. And those eyes!!

Mr_Misanthropy said:

This is such a sad subject no matter how you look at it. It's simply a tragedy when a new life doesn't have a chance to experience the world, all of it's merits and flaws. I wonder how those statistics looked one hundred years ago when a majority of folks did home delivery. My great grandmother had every one of her children at home, and thankfully they all survived.

Click to expand...

Quite so. My great-grandmother had eight children from about 1897-1908. Of those only four survived to maturity. Mamie (17), John(18), Alvina (2) and one baby didn't make it through the diseases that the era after WWI had prevalently running amok. Now that is mortality.
Today with Amnio, Ultra Sound and other technology and precautions there is little reason here in the US for such things to happen without being directly linked to the neglect of parents

Regards,

J

It made zero sense when I first saw the story. The United States, second from the bottom in worst IMR.

Huh?

I think that when groups have an agenda, and they make outrageous claims to buttress their agenda, they sacrifice all credibility and end up losing ground. Then they blame their audience for being too dumb to get it.

"The world as we know it will end at 12:00:01 AM, January 1, 2000 because of a computer clock glitch."
"The earth is warming faster and hotter than ever before and most life will have died out by 2100. "
"At current food consumption and birth rates, massive starvation will wipe out four billion people in the 1980's, including 65,000,000 Americans."
"At current population growth rates, the world will run out of land before the end of the 20th century."
The United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world."

"They" think we're idiots.

BT! She's amazing, just amazing!

New dictionary definition

BT, I ought to write to the Oxford Concise Dictionary and petition them to alter their definition of 'adorable' to feature a photo of your baby girl.

Sorry to be fftopic: , but having been a Dad for nearly 2 years to another big-eyed cutie, I love knowing that others have been blessed as I have to know the wonder and sheer adoration that you feel as a parent.

In a document called Twenty Myths about Single-Payer Health Insurance" (PDF file, page 23-26) from the National Center for Policy Analysis, this stuff is pretty much debunked. A lot of interesting stuff in these 4 pages that's worth reading, but this paragraph struck me in particular:

"Another reason may have to do with how the U.S. and other countries measure infant mortality. For example, in 1998 Switzerland’s infant mortality of 4.8 per 1,000 births was only two-thirds of the rate found in the United States (7.2 per 1,000). However, Switzerland does not treat the death of an infant born less than 30 centimeters in length as a live birth. This threshold effectively excludes many very low birth weight babies such as those weighing less than one kilogram (2.2 pounds). Yet, close to one-third of all infant deaths recorded in the United States are among infants weighing 2.2 pounds or less. If these very low birth weight infants (most of which measure less then 30 centimeters) were reclassified in the United States vital statistics as “stillborn” rather than “live births,” the respective rates of the two countries would be similar."

So just play around with the definitions you use to measure events, and you'll eventually get the statistics you want....

Benny Holiday said:

BT, I ought to write to the Oxford Concise Dictionary and petition them to alter their definition of 'adorable' to feature a photo of your baby girl.

Sorry to be fftopic: , but having been a Dad for nearly 2 years to another big-eyed cutie, I love knowing that others have been blessed as I have to know the wonder and sheer adoration that you feel as a parent.

Click to expand...

Thanks Benny- we are glad with the outcome.
In the first hours and days, it was iffy to say the least, then somehow she contracted meningitis but it didn't bother her.

All is well.

B
T

We could drop the rate quickly...

...by stopping pregnant women at the Mexican border. Now, I'm not saying we should, but its a fact that many women come across to have their babies here. The hospital is free as far as they are concerned, and the child is a natural born citizen, and the medical care they get is much higher than in Mexico.

And, the pregnancy is 'high risk' by definition, since the mother has had near zero prenatal care, lives in a very polluted environment, and likely works very long hours doing hard physical labor.

I'm not advocating any immigration point; my feelings on that are quite mixed. But the hospitals along the border are filled with cases like this, and due to the birthrates they make up a large percentage of the stats.