While the overall infant mortality rate for Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders is comparable to the white population, disparities still exist among Pacific Islander sub-populations. Data from national surveillance reports is limited.
- Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders have almost twice the infant mortality rate as compared to non-Hispanic whites in 2018.
- In 2019, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander mothers were 4.6 times more likely to receive late or no prenatal care as compared to non-Hispanic white mothers.
- According to CDC data, the infant mortality rate on the island of Guam was 2.5 times higher than that of non-Hispanic white infants born on the mainland of the United States, in 2018.
Infant Mortality Rate
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander* | White* | All Races | Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander / White Ratio |
| 9.4 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 2.0 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 2.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
| Country/Territory | Infant Mortality Rate | Ratio vs. White |
| White (U.S. National) | 4.6 | -- |
| Guam | 11.7 | 2.5 |
Source: CDC 2020. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 2018 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 5.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr69/NVSR-69-7-508.pdf [PDF 487KB]
| Country/Territory | Infant Mortality Rate | Ratio vs. White |
| White (U.S. National, ethnicity not defined) | 5.2 | -- |
| Guam | 11.7 | 2.3 |
| Marshall Islands | 22.2 | 4.3 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 12.8 | 2.5 |
| Palau | >11.5 | 2.2 |
| American Samoa | 10.1 | 1.9 |
| Federated States of Micronesia | 22.5 | 4.3 |
Source: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 2021. The World Factbook 2021.
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/infant-mortality-rate/
Leading Causes of Infant Mortality
Characteristics of Mother
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | White | Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander / White Ratio |
| 50.0 | 82.8 | 0.6 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1MB]
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | White | Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander / White Ratio |
| 20.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1MB]
| Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | White | Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander / White Ratio |
| 3.3 | 8.8 | 0.4 |
Source: CDC 2021. Births: Final Data for 2019 National Vital Statistics Reports. Table 13.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr70/nvsr70-02-508.pdf [PDF 1MB]
*All data in the above surveys relate to non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and non-Hispanic whites.
| Race of Mother | Percent | Ratio vs. White |
| White | 4.3 | -- |
| Total Asian | 5.7 | 1.3 |
| Filipino | 3.7 | 0.9 |
| Native Hawaiian | 8.8 | 2.0 |
| Other Asian or Pacific Islander | 6.8 | 1.6 |
Source: Child Trends Databank, 2019.
https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/late-or-no-prenatal-care/
** More recent data is not available from CDC at this time
Last Edited: 07/09/2021