Infant mortality

1. Key messages

2. Infant mortality rate

359 deaths of infants observed in Belgium in 2021

In the year 2021, Belgian authorities registered a total of 359 infant deaths.

Among those, 339 deaths occurred in infants born from a mother who is registered in the National Register. There were no infant deaths registered in the Asylum Seeker Register in 2021. For 20 deaths (5.6%), the mother was not officially registered in Belgium or the infant death was only notified via a death certificate.

In the same year, the total number of live births was equal to 120,555, of which 117,914 (98%) were registered in the National Register, 435 (0.36%) were registered in the Asylum Seeker Register, and for 2,206 (1.8%) births the mother was not officially registered in Belgium or the birth was only notified with a birth certificate.

Decrease in the girl infant mortality rate in 2021

In 2021, the infant mortality rate was 2.9 per thousand live births. Infant mortality rates have decreased by 46% from 1998 (5.3‰) to 2021.

The infant mortality rate in 2021 was 2.5 per thousand live births in girls and 3.2 per thousand live births in boys, corresponding to an absolute gap of 0.7‰ and a sex ratio of 1.3. The fluctuations in these gender mortality gaps over time can be largely explained by the small number of infant deaths. In 2021, the gender difference increased compared to 2020 due to the important decrease in the girl infant mortality rate.

After smoothing, the mortality differences between girls and boys persisted (respectively 3.0‰ and 3.7‰).

There are differences between the Brussels Capital Region and the other regions

Regional differences were observed in infant mortality rates in 2021: the infant mortality rates were highest in the Flemish Region (2.9‰) and the Walloon Region (2.9‰) followed by the Brussels Capital Region (2.7‰). After smoothing, the 2021 infant mortality rates were higher in the Brussels Capital Region (3.6‰) compared to the Flemish Region (3.4‰) and the Walloon Region (3.4‰).

Over time, a decline has been observed in all regions. After a strong decline in the past and a strong rise in the last years, the infant mortality rate in the Brussels-Capital Region declined in 2021. In general, over the last nine years, the infant mortality rate has been stagnating.

Infant mortality in Belgium is slightly higher than the EU-14 average

In 2021, the Belgian infant mortality was slightly higher than the EU-14 average (2.8). 

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View the metadata for this indicator

SPMA: Standardized Procedures for Mortality Analysis in Belgium

Background

The infant mortality rate reflects the mortality of children below 1 year. It includes both the consequences of perinatal events and the mortality occurring after the perinatal period, which is often preventable. The infant mortality rate is highly correlated to the country's level of development, the quality of medical care, and the availability of preventive services and health promotion interventions.

Higher infant mortality rates in boys compared to girls have for long been observed in nearly all countries in the world [3]. The explanation is complex, including important biological and genetic factors as well as environmental and behavioral factors resulting in a persistent mortality difference throughout infancy and even later [4,5].

Large fluctuations in yearly rates are observed at regional level, due to the small number of infant deaths. Meaningful comparisons of rates and trends by region are therefore best made using smoothed rates. In this overview, we use a moving average over 5 years period.

Deaths occurring in Belgium may occur in legal residents (registered in the National Register, with a Belgian or foreign nationality), asylum seekers (registered in the register of asylum seekers), or non-residents (travelers, illegal, etc.). Official statistics on infant mortality include legal residents and asylum seekers.

On this page, we first present all infant deaths in Belgium by residence status, and then focus on the deaths of infants whose mothers were legal residents.

Definitions

EU-14

The EU-14 corresponds to all countries that already belonged to the European Union between 1995 and 2004: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. We compare the Belgian health status to that of the EU-14 because these countries have similar socioeconomic conditions. Note: The United Kingdom is not included since they have left the EU.

Infant mortality rate

The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births in the same year.

Sex ratio

The sex ratio is the mortality rate of boys under the age of 1 divided by the mortality rate of girls under the age of 1. A sex ratio of 1.2 means that there are 1.2 times more infant deaths in boys than in girls.

References

1. Statbel, 1998-2021. https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/population/mortality-life-expectancy-and-causes-death/feto-infant-mortality
2. OECD Health Data, 2020. https://stats.oecd.org/
3. UN IGME. United Nations Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation; 2018. https://childmortality.org/data
4. Drevenstedt GL, Crimmins EM, Vasunilashorn S, Finch CE. The rise and fall of excess male infant mortality, 2008. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18362357/
5. Sidebotham P, Fraser J, Covington T, Freemantle J, Petrou S, Pulikottil-Jacob R, et al. Understanding why children die in high-income countries, 2014. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25209491/

Please cite this page as: Sciensano. Mortality and Causes of Death: Infant mortality, Health Status Report, 26 Feb 2024, Brussels, Belgium, https://www.healthybelgium.be/en/health-status/mortality-and-causes-of-death/infant-mortality