WASHINGTON – The infant mortality rate in D.C. continues to fall.
The most recent report shows just more than seven infants died for every 1,000 births in the city in 2011, compared to the previous statistic of eight deaths per 1,000 births.
Najma Roberts, spokeswoman for the D.C. Department of Health, says the infant mortality rate was three times higher in the 1990s.
“This is the lowest that is has been,” Roberts says.
Roberts says one factor in the lower rate is efforts to reduce smoking among pregnant women. The city has seen an 86 percent reduction in smoking among pregnant women, as well as a 50 percent increase in mothers who breastfed their children.
Figures also show that births from teenage pregnancies dropped by more than 8 percent in the District.
Read more about the city’s infant mortality rate here.
WTOP’s Andrew Mollenbeck contributed to this report. Follow @MollenbeckWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.
