The rate of infant mortality in The Bahamas was 14 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2012, with an under-five mortality rate of 17 deaths per 1,000 live births. As shown in Graph 1, while the under-five mortality figure has fallen since the early 1990s, it has seen no notable change since 1999 and is not yet in line with the country’s target of eight deaths per 1,000 live births, as defined by Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG 4). In 2010 the three most prominent known causes of death for children below the age of five years were pneumonia (27 per cent), congenital anomalies (12 per cent) and prematurity (nine per cent). Other contributory causes were neonatal sepsis (five per cent), injuries (eight per cent) and HIV/AIDS (one per cent). In 2011 maternal mortality stood at 47 deaths per 100,000 live births (estimate by UN agencies/World Bank).
