US infant mortality fell to a provisional record low of under 5.4 per 1,000 births in 2025, CDC data show
Preliminary CDC figures put the US infant mortality rate at slightly under 5.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025, down from 5.5 in 2024. Across the United States, that translates to roughly 19,350 infant deaths, about 700 fewer than the prior year. The data are provisional and may be revised, the source is a single wire report with an internal contradiction, and researchers say they cannot identify what drove the decline.
Why it matters
Infant mortality is a core measure of population health, and this provisional figure, covering one year of data, offers early evidence of a small further decline rather than a reversal of recent progress.
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