New Mexico's infant death rate was 6.6 per 1,000 live births for the 12 months ending with December 2000. In 1999, there were 5,098 legal abortions, or 14 per 1,000 women. In 2000, the overall death rate stood at 768.1 per 100,000 population, well below the national rate of 873.1.
New Mexico has the distinction of being the state with the 2nd-lowest death rate from heart diseases. The rate per 100,000 population in 1998 was 182.6, as compared with the national rate of 258.2. Among adults ages 18 and older, 23.6% were smokers in 2000. The death rate for lung disease among New Mexicans stood at 65.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1997. The rate of death from HIV-related infections (1.8 per 100,000 population) was also below the national rate in 2000. A total of 2,187 AIDS cases had been reported through 2001.
New Mexico's 35 community hospitals had 164,461 admissions and 3,584 beds in 2001. There were 4,703 full-time registered nurses and 705 full-time licensed practical nurses in 2001 and 238 physicians per 100,000 population in 2000. The average expense of a community hospital for care was $1,201.60 per inpatient day in 2001.
Federal government grants to cover the Medicare and Medicaid services in 2001 totaled $1.2 billion; 238,418 enrollees received Medicare benefits that year. At least 20.7% of New Mexico's residents were uninsured in 2002, the 2nd-highest percentage in the US.