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Mr. Greville Janner
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what the infant mortality rate in the United Kingdom generally, and in Leicestershire in particular, has been during each of the past 25 years; and how this compares with similar rates in each of the other member States of the EEC and in the Scandinavian countries.
Dr. Vaughan
Readily available figures are as follows:
| INFANT MORTALITY RATES (DEATHS UNDER ONE YEAR PER 1,000 LIVE BIRTHS) 1950 TO 1978 | |||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | Leicestershire | Belgium | Denmark | France | Germany | Holland | Ireland | Italy | Luxembourg | Finland | Norway | Sweden | |
| 1950 | 31·2 | 27·8 | 53·4 | 30·7 | 51·9 | 55·3 | 25·2 | 46·2 | 63·8 | 45·7 | 43·5 | 28·2 | 21·0 |
| 1951 | 31·1 | 25·6 | |||||||||||
| 1952 | 28·8 | 25·4 | |||||||||||
| 1953 | 27·6 | 26·6 | |||||||||||
| 1954 | 26·4 | 27·0 | |||||||||||
| 1955 | 25·8 | 22·9 | 40·7 | 25·2 | 38·6 | 41·8 | 20·1 | 36·7 | 50·9 | 38·9 | 29·7 | 20·6 | 17·4 |
| 1956 | 24·4 | 21·6 | |||||||||||
| 1957 | 24·0 | 21·3 | |||||||||||
| 1958 | 23·4 | 20·5 | |||||||||||
| 1959 | 23·1 | 19·1 | |||||||||||
| 1960 | 22·4 | 21·3 | 31·2 | 21·5 | 27·4 | 33·8 | 17·9 | 29·3 | 43·9 | 31·5 | 21·0 | 18·9 | 16·6 |
| 1961 | 22·1 | 18·6 | |||||||||||
| 1962 | 22·4 | 19·7 | |||||||||||
| 1963 | 21·7 | 18·5 | |||||||||||
| 1964 | 20·6 | 16·4 | |||||||||||
| 1965 | 19·6 | 18·0 | 23·7 | 18·7 | 21·9 | 23·9 | 14·4 | 25·2 | 36·0 | 24·0 | 17·6 | 16·8 | 13·3 |
| 1966 | 19·6 | 19·9 | |||||||||||
| 1967 | 18·8 | 18·6 | |||||||||||
| 1968 | 18·7 | 15·3 | |||||||||||
| 1969 | 18·6 | 18·2 | |||||||||||
| 1970 | 18·5 | 18·0 | 21·1 | 14·2 | 18·2 | 23·6 | 12·7 | 19·5 | 29·5 | 24·9 | 13·2 | 12·7 | 11·0 |
| 1971 | 17·9 | 17·6 | |||||||||||
| 1972 | 17·5 | 19·0 | |||||||||||
| 1973 | 17·2 | 18·4 | |||||||||||
| 1974 | 16·8 | 16·1 | 18·0 | 10·7 | 14·6 | 21·1 | 11·3 | 17·8 | 22·9 | 12·4 | 11·0 | 10·4 | 9·6 |
| 1975 | 16·0 | 15·4 | 16·1 | 10·4 | 13·7 | 19·8 | 10·6 | 18·4 | 20·7 | 14·8 | 10·0 | 11·1 | 8·6 |
| 1976 | 14·5 | 14·8 | 15·3 | 10·1 | 12·5 | 17·4 | 10·7 | 14·6 | 19·2 | 17·9* | 9·9 | 10·5 | 8·3 |
| 1977 | 14·1 | 12·9 | 8·7 | 11·5 | 15·5 | 9·5* | 15·7* | 17·6* | 10·6* | 12·0* | 9·2 | 8·0 | |
| 1978 | 13·3* | 13·3 | 10·6* | ||||||||||
| Sources—UN, WHO and National publications | |||||||||||||
| * provisional | |||||||||||||
Mr. Greville Janner
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services by how much he expects infant mortality to increase in the United Kingdom, and in Leicestershire in particular, as a result of the cuts in domiciliary care and special care baby units, respectively.
Dr. Vaughan
I expect infant mortality to continue to fall.