New research from UC San Diego shows that since modern crop varieties were introduced in the developing world starting in 1961, they have substantially reduced infant mortality, especially for male babies and among poor households. The study finds that global diffusion of agricultural technology reduced infant mortality by up to 2.4 to 5.3 percentage points. This translates to around 3 to 6 million infant deaths averted per year by the year 2000. “If the green revolution had spread to sub-Saharan Africa like it did to South Asia, our estimates imply that infant mortality rates would improve by 31 percent,” said Gordon McCord, study co-author and associate teaching professor of economics at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy.