Record lowest infant death reported in 2019

The number of children dying at the age of under one year was 96 in 2019 and the number is the lowest since the independence of the country, according to Statistics Finland.

The number of infant deaths per one thousand live-born children was 2.1, which is the same figure as in the previous year.

The infant mortality rate of boys, 2.3 per mil, was slightly higher than among girls, 1.9 per mil. The lowest infant mortality rate in recorded history was 1.7 per mil in 2015, when 97 children died at the age of under one year.

In 2019, the average life expectancy at birth was 79.2 years for boys and 84.5 years for girls.

For boys, the life expectancy increased by 0.3 years and for girls by 0.2 years compared with 2018.

Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a person aged 0 would live on average, provided the rate of mortality remains unchanged.

A total of 53,949 persons died in 2019, which is 578 less than in 2018.

Men died, on average, at the age of 75.3 and women at 82.1. Women died, on average, 6.8 years older than men. In young age groups, a majority of deaths occurred among young men but among persons aged 83 and older there were more women than men.

The median age at death for men was 77.8 years and for women 85.5 years. The median describes the middle value, that is, one-half of all persons that died, died at a younger or older age than the median age at death.