Infant mortality in Chile 1905-2020

At the beginning of the 20^th century, the infant mortality rate fluctuated around 300 deaths per thousand live births, meaning that roughly three in ten infants born in these years would not survive past their first birthday. Since 1910, however, Chile's infant mortality rate has consistently fallen, apart from a brief rise in the 1930s as Chile was hit particularly hard by the Great Depression. Infant mortality would fall at its fastest rate in the 1940s and 1950s, due to the expansion of several vaccination campaigns and the introduction of a national healthcare system, which saw dramatic improvements in natal health in the country. While many of thee healthcare initiatives were scaled back by the new administration in the 1950s, infant mortality has continued to fall, although it has stagnated in recent decades. Nonetheless, infant mortality in Chile in 2020is estimated to be just seven deaths per thousand births, meaning that over 99 percent of all newborns will make it past their first birthday.