Author(s)

Benfeng Du, Yu Zhang

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Infant mortality rate (IMR) has been viewed as the vital index which can be used to measure the health level of a country or a district, and also can indirectly illustrate the economic development level of the country or district. In this paper, the authors 1) introduce three calculation methods of IMR and compare the differences among them; 2) calculate the IMR using one method above, and find the IMRs recorded in China Population Statistic Yearbook (CPSY) from National Statistics Institute and in China Health Statistic Yearbook from Ministry of National Hygiene are both overestimated; 3) point out three main reasons for this overestimation: firstly, confusion of methods of calculation and concepts, secondly, inconsistent statistical caliber among different yearbooks, thirdly, flaws within the registration system.

Infant Mortality Rate, Statistic Method, Differences Analysis

B. Du and Y. Zhang, "Infant Mortality Rate Statistic Method and Difference Analysis in China," Open Journal of Statistics, Vol. 1 No. 3, 2011, pp. 236-243. doi: 10.4236/ojs.2011.13027.