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Sweden has third lowest child death rate

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Sweden has third lowest child death rate

Sweden has the third lowest infant mortality rate in western Europe, with just 2.7 deaths per 1,000 births, a comprehensive new study revealed.

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The report, conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, revealed that only Iceland and Andorra has a lower infant mortality than Sweden in western Europe, with 2.4 deaths per 1000 births, for children under the age of five. 

On the global scale for child mortality rates, Sweden was ranked in fourth place behind Andorra (2.6), Iceland (2.4) and Singapore (2.3).

Britain, by contrast, has a child mortality rate of 4.9 deaths per 1,000 births for children younger than five years of age.

The report comes on the heels of a recent study by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health entitled, 'Why Children Die,' which revealed that 2,000 die in the UK who would otherwise have survived had they lived in Sweden.

That report said: "If we compare ourselves with the country with the lowest mortality for children and young people, Sweden (after controlling for population size among other variables), we find that in the UK every day five children under the age of 14 die who would not die in Sweden," reported Britain's Daily Telegraph.

In the United States the figure is even higher, with 6.6 deaths per 1,000 births for kids under five, according to the new US report. On a global perspective the infant mortality in Europe is considerably lower than the rest of the world.

For example in parts of central sub-Saharan Africa the infant mortality is extremely high. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo the number of child deaths per 1000 births, under the age of five, is 120.3.

Despite the findings researchers believe that infant mortality rates have declined significantly over the last few decades. Since 1990 they estimate that the number has been halved.  

TT/The Local/pr

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