Economic and Socioeconomic Determinants of Infant Mortality: A cross-country investigation

Infant mortality rate has been gaining greater importance in recent years as an indicator of population wellness. In previous studies, infant mortality rate is often found to be higher in countries with lower income and less socioeconomic development. This paper concentrates on investigating possible determinants of infant mortality rate across countries. Using data of 114 countries in 2011 from the World Bank, analysis has been done to explore the relationship of infant mortality rate with economic strength and socioeconomic factors. Based on the results, in can be concluded that female education and government health expenditure are negatively related to infant mortality rate, but fertility rate is positively related to infant mortality rate. Comparing with fertility and female education, government health expenditure has less impact on infant mortality rate, especially with respect to countries with lower per capita GDP.