Infant mortality in Syria 1950-2020

In 1950, the infant mortality rate of Syria was approximately two hundred deaths per thousand births, meaning that approximately one in five children born at this time would not survive past their first birthday. Infant mortality would decline rapidly in Syria in the second half of the 20^th century, as rapid modernization fuelled by growing oil exports would allow for a significant expansion in access to healthcare and improved access to nutrition in the country. As a result, infant mortality would fall to just 21 deaths per thousand children by the turn of the century, roughly a tenth of the rate just fifty years earlier. However, infant mortality would increase in 2015, as the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 would lead to mass displacement of the country’s population, and the destruction and disruption of much of the country’s healthcare services. However, as the conflict has decreased in intensity, the infant mortality rate of Syria has begun to decline once more, and in 2020, it is estimated that the infant mortality rate is now 16 deaths per thousand live births.