Infant mortality in Greenland: secular trend and regional variation

Infant mortality and stillbirths were studied in the Inuit population of Greenland. Infant mortality rate decreased from 110 per 1000 live births in 1951 to 50 in 1970 and 20 in 1989. Statistically significant decrease was in particular seen for acute respiratory infections and certain perinatal conditions. Both perinatal and postperinatal mortality rates increased significantly with remoteness from the capital and were higher in settlements than in towns. The overall trend in Greenland is similar to the Danish pattern 30 years earlier, but there was pronounced regional variation. In towns, the infant mortality rate decreased continuously while in settlements an initial decrease was followed by a substantial increase during 1980-87 when the mortality rate doubled. The greater part of this increase could be attributed to an increased number of deaths in the postperinatal period countrywide during 1981-84 and an increased number of perinatal deaths in the settlements of one particular municipality during 1983-86.