.png)
New Hampshire Stands Alone With Lowest Infant Mortality Rate and Only ‘A’ Preterm Grade in U.S.
- Granite Eagle
- Nov 18
- 2 min read
CONCORD, NH- New March of Dimes data place New Hampshire in a category of its own on maternal and infant health, with the lowest infant mortality rate in the country and the only “A-range” grade for preterm birth in the 2025 Report Card.
According to March of Dimes’ PeriStats data, 35 infants in New Hampshire died before their first birthday in 2023, an infant mortality rate of 2.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. That is well below the national rate of 5.6 and the lowest of any U.S. state based on recent comparative analyses of state-level outcomes. Nationally, more than 20,000 babies died before their first birthday. New Hampshire’s rate is roughly half that burden.
On preterm birth, the 2025 March of Dimes Report Card shows New Hampshire at the top of the national table as well. The state is listed with the lowest preterm birth rate in the country, about 7.9 percent, and is the only state to earn a grade in the “A” range (A-) on the preterm birth scale. Most states fall somewhere between a C and an F, and the United States as a whole remains stuck at a D+ for preterm birth.
March of Dimes technical notes and the PeriStats state summary help explain the picture behind those grades. In New Hampshire in 2023, about 1 in 12 babies (8.3 percent) was born preterm, and 84.2 percent of infants were born to women receiving adequate or better prenatal care. That puts the Granite State well ahead of the national pattern, where late or inadequate prenatal care affects more than 16 percent of births and remains a major driver of poor outcomes.
New Hampshire also performs strongly on several related indicators. The same data show that only about 6.8 percent of New Hampshire babies are born with low birthweight and that roughly one-third of births are by Cesarean delivery. While those rates are not unique nationally, they align with the broader picture of relatively good outcomes in the state.
The contrast with much of the country is sharp. Many states in the South and parts of the Midwest continue to post infant mortality rates above 7 deaths per 1,000 live births and preterm birth rates in the mid-teens. Nationally, March of Dimes reports that the U.S. preterm rate has been stuck at 10.4 percent for three straight years, and nearly half of all states receive a D or F grade for preterm birth.