- Among Hispanic Americans, the infant mortality rate ranges from 3.8 per 1,000 live births for Cuban Americans to 5.6 per 1,000 live births for Puerto Ricans.
- Puerto Ricans had a 20 percent higher infant mortality rate as compared to non-Hispanic whites in 2018.
- Puerto Rican infants were 2.5 times as likely to die from causes related to maternal complications than non-Hispanic white infants in 2018.
- In 2019, Hispanic mothers were 80 percent as likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.
- In 2019, Central and South American mothers were 2.5 times as likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.
Infant Mortality Rate
| Race of Mother | Infant Mortality Rate | Ratio vs. White |
| White* | 4.6 | -- |
| Total Hispanic | 4.9 | 1.1 |
| Mexican | 4.9 | 1.1 |
| Puerto Rican | 5.6 | 1.2 |
| Cuban | 3.8 | 0.8 |
| Central and South American | 4.0 | 0.9 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
Leading Causes of Infant Mortality
| Cause of Death(By rank) | # Hispanic Deaths | Hispanic Death Rate | # White Deaths | White Death Rate | Hispanic / White Ratio |
| (1) Congenital Malformations | 1,057 | 119.3 | 2,178 | 111.3 | 1.1 |
| (2) Low-Birthweight | 714 | 80.6 | 1,215 | 68.1 | 1.3 |
| (3) Maternal Complications | 336 | 37.9 | 446 | 22.8 | 1.7 |
| (4) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) | 202 | 22.8 | 635 | 32.5 | 0.7 |
| (5) Accidents (unintentional injuries) | 148 | 16.7 | 560 | 29.7 | 0.6 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
| Cause of Death(By rank) | # Mexican Deaths | Mexican Death Rate | White Death Rate | Mexican / White Ratio |
| (1) Congenital Malformations | 593 | 119.3 | 111.3 | 1.1 |
| (2) Low-Birthweight | 399 | 80.5 | 62.1 | 1.3 |
| (3) Maternal Complications | 189 | 38.1 | 22.8 | 1.7 |
| (4) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) | 110 | 22.2 | 32.5 | 0.7 |
| (5) Accidents (unintentional injuries) | 88 | 17.8 | 29.7 | 0.6 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
| Cause of Death(By rank) | # Puerto Rican Deaths | Puerto Rican Death Rate | White Death Rate | Puerto Rican / White Ratio |
| (1) Low-Birthweight | 80 | 111.7 | 62.1 | 1.8 |
| (2) Congenital Malformations | 76 | 106.1 | 111.3 | 1.0 |
| (3) Maternal Complications | 41 | 57.3 | 22.8 | 2.5 |
| (4) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) | 23 | 32.1 | 32.5 | 1.0 |
| (5) Accidents (unintentional injuries) | 18 | -- | 29.7 | -- |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
| Cause of Death(By rank) | # Central and South Deaths | Central and South Death Rate | White Death Rate | Central and South / White Ratio |
| (1) Congenital Malformations | 184 | 124.8 | 111.3 | 1.1 |
| (2) Low-Birthweight | 98 | 66.5 | 62.1 | 1.1 |
| (3) Maternal Complications | 43 | 29.2 | 22.8 | 1.3 |
| (4) Accidents (unintentional injuries) | 15 | -- | 29.7 | -- |
| (5) Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) | 16 | -- | 32.5 | -- |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 4.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
Characteristics of Mother
| Race of Mother | Percent | Ratio vs. White |
| White | 82.8 | -- |
| Total Hispanic | 72.1 | 0.9 |
| Mexican | 72.8 | 0.9 |
| Puerto Rican | 76.2 | 0.9 |
| Cuban | 81.5 | 1.0 |
| Central and South American | 66.1 | 0.8 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13 and 14.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1.1MB]
| Race of Mother | Percent | Ratio vs. White |
| White | 4.5 | -- |
| Total Hispanic | 8.2 | 1.8 |
| Mexican | 7.8 | 1.7 |
| Puerto Rican | 6.2 | 1.4 |
| Cuban | 4.5 | 1.0 |
| Central and South American | 11.3 | 2.5 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13 and 14.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1.1MB]
| Race of Mother | Percent | Ratio vs. White |
| White | 8.8 | -- |
| Total Hispanic | 1.5 | 0.2 |
| Mexican | 1.3 | 0.1 |
| Puerto Rican | 4.9 | 0.6 |
| Cuban | 2.0 | 0.2 |
| Central and South American | 0.4 | 0.05 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13 and 14.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1.1MB]
| Age of Mother | Hispanic | White | Hispanic / White Ratio |
| Under 20 years | 6.4 | 8.5 | 0.8 |
| 20-24 years | 5.1 | 6.1 | 0.8 |
| 25-29 years | 4.4 | 4.7 | 0.9 |
| 30-34 years | 4.4 | 3.6 | 1.2 |
| 35-39 years | 4.9 | 4.1 | 1.2 |
| 40-54 years | 6.3 | 5.6 | 1.7 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
*All data in the above surveys relate to non-Hispanic whites.
Last Edited: 07/09/2021