Racial and Ethnic Infant Mortality Gaps and the Role of SES

We assess the extent to which differences in socio-economic status are associated with racial and ethnic gaps in a fundamental measure of population health: the rate at which infants die. Using micro-level Vital Statistics data from 2000 to 2004 for whites, blacks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Asians, and Native Americans, we first examine how infant mortality and its subcomponents are associated with background characteristics. Although the racial and ethnic groups differ along several observable dimensions, each of the between-group mortality gaps is strongly associated with three background characteristics: maternal marital status, education, and age. For example, if whites had the distribution of these three characteristics found among the high-IMR groups, we estimate that the white infant mortality rate would increase by about 1.9 deaths per 1000 live births, roughly one-third of the actual white infant mortality rate. Using data on new mothers from the Census, we further show that these three characteristics are each strongly associated with income and poverty. Overall, these results suggest that SES differences play a substantial role in the IMR gaps across these groups.