The benefits of Thatcherism

[Keaney Michael <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Infant mortality in Britain second worst in EU

 By Lorna Duckworth Social Affairs Correspondent

 The Independent, 29 June 2001

 Britain has the second-highest death rate among babies in the
 European Union, government figures released yesterday show.

 The rate of 5.8 child deaths in every 1,000 live births is only
 slightly better than in Greece, which has the Union's worst
 record at 5.9 per 1,000, the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
 said. Britain's performance is far worse than that of Sweden,
 which has the lowest infant mortality of the 15 EU states at 2.9
 deaths per 1,000 births.

 Infant mortality inBritain has fallen by three-quarters since
 1960, when the rate was 22.5 per 1,000 live births. The ONS
 report showed southern European countries such as Spain,
 Italy and Portugal had experienced much greater reductions in
 infant death rates over the past 40 years. The most improved
 rate was in Portugal, which saw infant mortality fall from 77.5 in
 1960 to 5.4 per 1,000 live births in 1999.

Full article at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=80775

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx