Death rates in the 20th century 1 year old. In 1999, at the end of the century, the infant mortality rate in the United States declined more than 90% to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 live births. Similarly, maternal mortality rates declined almost 99% to less than 0.1 reported deaths per 1,000 live births. There are a variety of causes for this steep decline in death rates in the 20th century: Despite these tremendous decreases in infant mortality and maternal mortality, the 20th century experienced significant disparities between minority death rates compared to death rates for white mothers. In the 1900s, black women were twice as likely
20th-century events and sign the Kyoto treaty, which set mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions. The celebration of the ending of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century was at New Year's Day, 2000. 20th-century events The 20th-century events include many notable events which occurred throughout the 20th century, which began on January 1, 1901, and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar. In Europe, the British Empire achieved the height of its power. Germany and Italy, which came into existence as unified nations in the second half of the 19th century, grew in power, challenging