According to data from Eurostat, Albania has the highest rate of infant mortality in the region, sparking concerns of the quality of maternal and post-natal care in the country.
While poverty has decreased and the conditions in hospitals have somewhat improved, the rate of infant deaths remains concerningly high.
Eurostat noted in a report on the Western Balkans and Turkey, that Albania’s infant mortality rate was 10.3 per live 1000 births. This is almost triple the regional average, according to Eurostat.
Kosovo ranks second with 8.7 per 1000, followed by North Macedonia with 5.6, Serbia with 4.8 and Montenegro with 2.4. In Europe, the average in 2019 was just 3.4.
In 2020, some 281 babies under one-year-old lost their lives while in 2019 the figure was 293, the highest level since 2021.
Among the causes of death were complications in pregnancy and in childbirth. Fatalities from respiratory diseases also increase 400% in 2020, compared to 2018. It is not known if this has any link with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exit previously reached out to the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Public Health to ask for data on exact causes of infant deaths, including co-sleeping, SIDS, lack of proper nutrition from either failure to thrive when breastfeeding or being unable to afford formula, vaccine-preventable diseases, positional asphyxiation and similar, but no response was forthcoming.
