2013 Child & Infant Mortality Statistics Released
Published on: 16/03/2015
New child and infant mortality statistics have just been published which shows that stillbirth in the UK is continuing to decrease slightly for the 3rd year running. There is still lots more work to be done as the UK still has one of the highest rates in the developed world.
Neal Long, Chief Executive of Sands, said:
“The final 2013 data for stillbirths and neonatal deaths, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), shows the UK stillbirth rate has continued its downward trend since 2011, with 4.6 stillbirths in every 1000 births. This is the lowest recorded since 1992. This is after over a decade of stagnation in the UK stillbirth rate which is historically one of the worst in the developed world.
The rate of neonatal deaths also fell slightly in 2013 to 2.7 per 1000 live births.
While Sands welcomes the beginnings of a downward trend in recent years, we know much more can be done to bring rates down. We want to see the UK rate fall further, to 2–3 stillbirths per 1,000 births, as has been achieved in other countries.
Sands has worked tirelessly since 2009 to raise awareness of the UK’s unacceptably high stillbirth rate. Reducing neonatal mortality and stillbirths are now priority areas for the NHS in England¹. In recent years, programmes to improve antenatal detection of fetal growth restriction – a leading associated condition of stillbirth – have been rolled out in many units.
Initiatives in stillbirth reduction in Scotland, following directly on from Sands’ first report in 2009 ‘Saving Babies’ Lives’, have resulted in the most consistent fall in the stillbirth rate among the four UK countries. In 2013, Scotland’s rate was 4.2 per 1,000.
The downward trend in the stillbirth rate is not yet reflected in all parts of the UK. While the smaller populations in the devolved nations mean greater fluctuations in the mortality rates are to be expected, Scotland has demonstrated that a sustained fall is possible.
2013 also saw the largest drop in 40 years in the number of babies being born, from 816,908 births in 2012 to 782,431. As a result, there was a significant fall in the overall number of babies who died in the UK, from 6,198 in 2012 to 5,712 in 2013. With fewer births and therefore fewer deaths, it’s now no longer the case that 17 babies a day die before, during and shortly after the time of birth – that figure is now between 15 and 16.”
All the stats and figures can be found here: