CDC reports biggest jump in US infant mortality rate in decades

The U.S. infant mortality rate rose in 2022, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Nearly 20,600 babies died before the age of 1, or 5.6 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births. This marks an increase of 3% from 2021, the largest year-over-year increase in 20 years.

Infant mortality in the U.S. continues to be higher than in most other industrialized countries, but the rate has trended downward since 1995, the first year the CDC was able to record the exact metric.

And despite the uptick, the infant mortality rate is still 19% lower than the last increase in 2002, at 6.95 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

Nearly 20% of infant deaths in the U.S. are attributable to congenital malformations. Some of this rise may be due to several states' restrictions on abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, with many women unable to choose abortion following the diagnosis of fetal anomaly.

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Another 14% of infant deaths resulted from disorders related to short gestation periods and low birth weight, followed by sudden infant death syndrome and maternal complications.

Maternal health and infant mortality are highly correlated, and the U.S. has increasingly struggled in recent years with high maternal complication rates during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.