RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's infant mortality fell to 12.4 deaths per every 1,000 live births in 2018, the country's statistics agency IBGE said Thursday.
The figures represent a 91.6 percent decrease from 1940, when infant mortality in Brazil stood at 146.6 deaths per every 1,000 live births. In 2010, the infant mortality rate dropped to 17.2 deaths per every 1,000 live births.
The mortality of children aged 1-4 was 2.12 per every 1,000 live births in 2018, down from the 76.7 deaths per every 1,000 live births registered in 1940.
According to the IBGE, compared to the other BRICS countries, Brazil's infant mortality is still higher than that in China and Russia, but lower than that in India and South Africa, which exceed 25 deaths per every 1,000 live births.
"Still, even the lower rate registered in Brazil -- 8.1 deaths per every 1,000 live births in Espirito Santo -- is much higher than those registered in developed nations like Japan and Finland in the same period (1.8 and 1.7 deaths per every 1,000 live births respectively)," the IBGE said.
