According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, Estonia and Slovenia have the lowest infant mortality rates in the bloc.
According to Eurostat, in 2018, the highest infant mortality rates in the EU were registered in Romania (6.0 deaths per 1,000 live births), Bulgaria (5.8 deaths) and Malta (5.6 deaths), and the lowest in Estonia (1.6 deaths) and Slovenia (1.7 deaths).
In the EU in 2018, around 14,600 children died before reaching one year of age. “This is equivalent to an infant mortality rate of 3.4 deaths per 1,000 live births,” the agency said in a press release.
The good news is, the infant mortality rates are falling across Europe. From 2008 to 2018, the infant mortality rate in the EU fell from 4.2 deaths per 1,000 live births to 3.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. Extending the analysis to the last 20 years, the infant mortality rate was almost halved – 6.6 deaths per 1,000 in 1998.
The cover image courtesy of Eurostat.
