ADPH announces an infant mortality rate of 7.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Katherine Campbell, (334) 206-5675
Statistical Analysis Division, Center for Health Statistics, (334) 206-5429

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) reports that the 2025 infant mortality rate, at 7.4 deaths per 1,000 live births, increased from the 2024 rate of 7.1. This reflects that out of the 57,192 live births in 2025, 422 infants died before their first birthday. Alabama's infant mortality rate has been relatively steady over the past few years. The provisional United States infant mortality rate for 2025 at 5.4 per 1,000 live births remains lower than Alabama's rate.

Among racial groups, the infant mortality rate for white infants increased to 5.5 (229 infant deaths) in 2025 up from 5.4 in 2024, and the infant mortality rate for Black infants increased to 13.1 (183 infant deaths) from 11.8 in 2024.

The three leading causes of infant deaths in 2025 were as follows:

• Congenital malformations, deformations, and abnormalities
• Disorders related to short gestation and low birth weight, not elsewhere classified
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Births to teenagers (ages 10 to 19) of all races reached historic lows in 2025, while the percentage of births to teenagers was a historic low of 5.4.

Other selected pregnancy and birth statistics include the following:

• The percentage of low-weight births in 2025 was 10.1, a slight decrease from the 2024 percentage of 10.2.
• Medicaid covered 35% of all births in 2025, while 49% of infant deaths were to mothers whose deliveries were paid for by Medicaid. Private insurance paid for 56% of all births, and 39% of infant deaths were to mothers with deliveries covered by private insurance.
• The percentage of births with adequate prenatal care increased from 73.9 in 2024 to 75.7 in 2025. The percentage of births with no prenatal care decreased from 3.1 in 2024 to 2.8 in 2025.

ADPH programs focus on the reduction of infant deaths and include these initiatives:

• To address limited access to prenatal care in rural counties, ADPH is collaborating with medical providers to offer prenatal services to low-risk women at county health departments through telehealth visits, extending to 36 weeks of pregnancy.
• The Well Woman Program encourages healthy living, prevention, and early detection of disease for women ages 15 to 55, leading to healthier pregnancies. The program is available in 11 counties for fiscal year 2027, offering preconception, interconception, and postconception care.
• ALL Babies is available statewide for coverage to pregnant women without insurance who meet the program's income guidelines.
• Nurses from the Fetal Infant Mortality Review Program, based in five major delivery hospitals, review most fetal and all infant deaths. Case summaries are presented to a regional multidisciplinary committee to identify the cause of death and explore ways to prevent future ones.

To help prevent sleep-related infant deaths, the Cribs for Kids program provides cribs to families without a safe sleep environment for their babies. Over the past five years, the program has supplied thousands of cribs at no cost to families, including 1,420 pack and play cribs distributed in fiscal year 2025.

The Clear the Crib Challenge was launched in 2023 to reduce the risk of sudden infant deaths and suffocation. This social media campaign encourages participants to clear a crib of all items except a firm mattress, fitted sheet, and the baby. The campaign promotes sharing the ABCs of safe sleep-alone, back, crib.

Additional programs include the Count the Kicks phone app to track fetal kicks, increased education on how sexually transmitted diseases affect pregnancies and newborns, promotion of car seat safety, and participation in the WIC Program to enhance nutrition for infants and young children. WIC is a supplemental nutrition program for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, women who had a baby within the last six months, infants, and children under the age of 5.

State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said, "Reducing infant mortality remains a challenge. Racial disparities persist in birth outcomes; the Black infant mortality rate is disproportionally higher than that of white infants. Lack of access to care, closure of labor and delivery services, poverty, poor nutrition, and chronic disease play significant roles in the health of mothers and infants. We must address the factors that contribute to poor health outcomes for mothers and babies."

Graphs and detailed charts are available on the ADPH website.

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11/12/26

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Mission: To promote, protect, and improve Alabama's health

Vision: Healthy People. Healthy Communities. Healthy Alabama.