SPRINGFIELD — Infant mortality rates in Springfield remain higher than the state average, with Black newborns at greatest risk, according to the most recent information from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
In Springfield, there was a rate of 4.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021. Comparatively, the state had a rate of 3.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births the same year. At the same time, Black babies were three times as likely as their white counterparts to die in infancy in Hampden County in 2020.
