North Rhine-Westphalia: 581 infants died in NRW in 2021

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - 581 infants died in North Rhine-Westphalia last year.

North Rhine-Westphalia: 581 infants died in NRW in 2021

Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - 581 infants died in North Rhine-Westphalia last year. That was five more than a year earlier (2020: 576), as the State Statistical Office announced on Tuesday. In the first year of life in 2021, 267 girls and 314 boys died. That was six fewer female infants and eleven male infants more than in 2020. At 3.3 per 1000 live births, infant mortality was roughly the same as in the previous year (2020: 3.4).

Compared to previous decades, infant mortality in NRW is now at a lower level: according to the information, it was about twice as high around 1990 and even about seven times as high in the 1970s as it was in 2021.

According to the death certificate, five girls and ten boys in NRW died within the first year of life from what is known as sudden infant death in 2020 (2019: 23 deaths). 20 years earlier in 2000 there were 164 babies.