The infant death rate for the year ending December 2000 was 8.4 per 1,000 live births. There were 5,755 legal abortions performed in 1999, when the state's abortion ratio was 11 per 1,000 women. In 2000, Arkansas's death rate, 1,095.2 per 100,000 population, was well above the national rate of 873.1, and the incidence of cerebrovascular disease was 87.5 per 100,000 population. Death rates from heart disease, cancer, accidents, and motor vehicle accidents also exceeded the national rates. The number of AIDS cases reported through 2001 totaled 3,177. The HIV death rate in Arkansas (2.9 per 100,000 population) was much lower than the national average of 5.3 per 100,000 population in 2000. Of adults age 18 years and older, 25.2% were current smokers in 2000.
Arkansas's 83 hospitals had 9,535 beds and recorded 371,080 admissions in 2001. Hospital expenses for services provided in 2001 were $1,207.2 per inpatient day. In 2000, the state had 208 physicians per 100,000 population and a total of 10,093 full-time registered nurses. Federal government grants to cover the Medicare and Medicaid services in 2001 totaled $1.4 billion; 441,863 enrollees received Medicare benefits that year. At least 16.1% of the adult population was uninsured in 2002, the ninth-highest percentage in the nation.