Children are dying in North Carolina at the second-highest rate recorded in more than a decade, and a recent study shows Black and American Indian youth are at greater risk.
The report from the state’s Child Fatality Task Force showed an overall child death rate of 61.5 per 100,000 children in North Carolina in 2023. That was only a slight decrease from the 2022, which saw the highest death rate for children in the state since 2009.
Overall, more than 1,400 children died in 2023 in North Carolina.
Death rates were highest for Black and American Indian children. The numbers show they died at three times the rate of white children.
The report shows unsafe sleep habits were a factor and that Black infants are twice as likely to die in unsafe sleep environments as white infants in North Carolina.
At least 29 infants accidentally suffocated or were accidentally strangled in their sleep in 2022.
