Infant mortality in Germany 1840-2020

The infant mortality rate in Germany, for children under the age of one (twelve months), was 295 deaths per thousand births in 1840. This translated into approximately three out of every ten children born in 1840 not surviving past their first birthday. The largest decrease in this 180 year period came in the late 1870s, as Germany introduced mandatory vaccination for children, which brought infant mortality down by almost sixty in this five year period. From the turn of the twentieth century onwards, the infant mortality rate in Germany dropped considerably (although data in and immediately after the Second World War is not available), and by 2020 the number is expected to be just three deaths per thousand births.