Advances in Infant Mortality.

European infant mortality rates fell from 178 deaths (< 1 year of age) per 1,000 births in the 1870s to 120 per 1,000 during 1911-1915. In the 1950s, these rates fell to 41 per 1,000, and in the late 1970s, they continued to fall to only 14 per 1000. In 2010, the mortality rate was 4.1 per 1,000 births. Factors for these improvements include increased income per capita, more sanitary living conditions, better general education about health and nutrition, better social services and health systems, and medical advances.
Oxford Economic Papers, September 2013