Term: Infant Mortality Rate

Glossary Definition

Last Updated: 2012-11-15

Definition:

The number of deaths among infants under one year of age per 1000 live births in a cohort of live born babies. Rates fluctuate in areas with small populations, therefore several years' averages should be chosen over a single year of data. The rate is usually expressed for a given period of time.

Infant mortality can be divided into two components: neonatal mortality (0 to 27 days) and postneonatal mortality (28 to 364 days).

NOTE: In Heaman et al. (2012), this rate was calculated for live births weighing 500 grams or more. This weight is consistent with definitions used by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

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