Infant mortality trends based on the 1976 Nepal Fertility Survey are estimated in 2 ways, directly from maternity histories and indirectly from child-survivorship data. The indirect estimates are sensitive to choice of standard life table; hence the direct estimates based on maternity histories are preferred. Direct estimates indicate that infant mortality declined from about 182 deaths per thousand live births in the early 1960s to about 156 in the early 1970s. High sex ratios at birth before 1960 suggest that infant mortality was substantially under-reported at that time. Differential infant mortality is estimated by mother''s age at childbirth, birth order, length of previous birth interval, sex of infant, region, urban-rural residence, father''s literacy and father''s education.