INFANT death rates generally remain higher in regional and remote areas of NSW, but they have declined significantly overall in the past decade.
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The figures, contained in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Deaths, Australia, 2011 report, also show higher death rates for Indigenous than non-Indigenous infants in NSW.
Australia-wide for 2011, infant mortality was lowest in major cities (3.6 deaths per 1000 live births) and highest in very remote areas (9.2 deaths per 1000 live births). In NSW, the infant mortality rate (IMR) was 3.8 for the major cities, 4.5 for inner regional centres (the category Dubbo falls into), 5.7 for outer regional areas and 3.8 for remote areas in 2011.
In 2009-2011, NSW, Queensland, SA, WA and the NT recorded a combined IMR for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians that was about twice the rate for non-Indigenous Australians (7.2 and 3.9 per 1000 live births respectively).
In NSW, the IMR for male Indigenous children in 2009-2011 was 5.1, down from 11.9 in 1998-2000. The IMR for female Indigenous children in NSW also fell from 11.7 in 1998-2000 to 3.9 in 2009-2011.
The infant death rates for non-Indigenous children were lower than they were for Indigenous children in NSW for every period reported between 1998 and 2011.
In NSW, the IMR for male non-Indigenous children in 2009-2011 was 4.4, down from 4.8 in 1998-2000. The IMR for female non-Indigenous children in NSW also fell from 3.9 to 3.4.
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