KDHE Home - News 2001 - New Release

Kansas
Department of Health & Environment
Bill Graves, Governor

Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary

For Immediate Release

November 17, 2001

Contact: Mike Heideman, 785-296-5795

Kansas Infant Mortality Rate Drops To 6.7 in 2000

The Kansas infant mortality rate, the ratio of infant deaths to live births, was the lowest rate ever recorded according to the 2000 Kansas Annual Summary of Vital Statistics published by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). There were 39,654 live births and 266 infant deaths to Kansas residents in 2000. This resulted in an infant mortality rate of 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births and was a decrease of 8.2 percent from the infant death rate of 7.3 in 1999.

The 2000 infant mortality rate of 11.5 for black residents of Kansas was the second lowest rate in the past 30 years, higher only than the rate of 9.7 in 1998.

During 2000 24,676 resident deaths occurred, 20,426 marriages were performed, and 10,105 marriages were dissolved (divorce or annulment).

The number of Kansas resident deaths represented a 1.2 percent increase from the 1999 total of 24,380. The Kansas crude death rate was 9.2 deaths per 1,000 population. The state's age-adjusted mortality rate, which corrects for differences in the age makeup of Kansas residents and is based on the 2000 population standard, was 8.5 deaths per 1,000 population. Both rates are identical to those in 1999.

The average age at death of Kansas residents in 2000 was 74.7 years. This figure is 2.0 percent higher than the average age at death of 73.2 years in 1990. The average age at death for males was 70.8 years, for females 78.3. The average age at death for blacks was 64.7 years compared to 75.4 for whites.
In 2000, the number of couples married in Kansas continued to decline. The marriage rate (7.6) decreased 3.8 percent from the 1999 rate of 7.9 per 1,000 population. Over half (10,363) of the marriages in 2000 were first marriages for both the bride and groom.

A long downward trend in Kansas marriage dissolutions, that begin in the early 1990s, reversed in 2000. The 10,105 divorces and annulments represented a 1.8 percent increase compared to the 1999 figure of 9,926 dissolutions.

The Center for Health and Environmental Statistics prepares the Kansas Annual Summary of Vital Statistics as part of KDHE's fundamental responsibility for assessing the health of Kansas residents. The data compiled are used by program managers and policy makers at state and local levels to address health concerns.

The 2000 Annual Summary is available in an HTML format at the KDHE Web site, http://www.kdheks.gov/hci/. Requests for single, printed copies of the Annual Summary of Vital Statistics should be made to the KDHE, Center for Health and Environmental Statistics, Office of Health Care Information at 785-296-8627.

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