TABLE 1.
Mean Infant Mortality Rates and Covariates Among 771 Municipalities: Brazil, 1996–2004
| Variables | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Infant mortality rate per 1000 live births | 24.1 | 22.9 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 19.8 | 18.7 | 17.8 | 17.3 | 16.1 |
| Total fertility rate, no. of children per childbearing-age woman | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| Per capita income, Brazilian real | 240.80 | 248.27 | 255.70 | 263.12 | 270.55 | 277.97 | 285.40 | 292.82 | 300.25 |
| Percentage of functional illiterates among persons older than 15 years | 31.4 | 30.2 | 29.1 | 28.0 | 26.9 | 25.7 | 24.6 | 23.5 | 22.4 |
| Percentage of persons living in households with running water | 88.6 | 89.7 | 90.7 | 91.8 | 92.8 | 93.8 | 94.9 | 95.9 | 97.0 |
| Gini indexa | 0.54 | 0.54 | 0.54 | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0.55 | 0.56 |
| Rate of local hospitalizations per 1000 inhabitants | 78.4 | 77.3 | 74.5 | 74.1 | 69.5 | 68.1 | 65.5 | 63.3 | 61.3 |
a
The Gini index is a measure of statistical dispersion and was used here as a measure of inequality of income distribution. It varies from 0 to 1, where a value of 0 corresponds to perfect equality and a value of 1 corresponds to perfect inequality.