North Carolina’s infant mortality rate decreased to 7.1 deaths per 1,000 births, compared with a 2016 rate of 7.2 and a 2015 rate of 7.3, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' 2017 infant mortality rates. While the racial disparity between birth outcomes for white infants and African-American infants remains unacceptably high, there was a reduction in the gap in birth outcomes.