FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4328
You asked
Child deaths from pre-birth - 24 weeks gestation to stillborn
Can you please confirm that the above registered deaths are recorded in your weekly deaths report as under 1-year olds? If not, can you please supply the annual figure for the years 2017/18/19/20/21 and year to date 2022.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
The data published in Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales does not include prebirth from 24 weeks or include stillbirths, as stillbirths are recorded as part of the Births cohort. The death cohort tables are based on the year the death occurred while the birth cohort are based on the year infant was born, whether they died in the same year or the following year. The death cohort tables cover both infant deaths (under 1 year of age) and child deaths (between 1 and 15 years of age), while the birth cohort tables are for infants only
In both cases, the death record has been linked to the relevant birth registration record so that tables broken down by information available on the birth registration (but not the death registration) can be produced; we also link the data to a third source, the birth notification records provided by the NHS. Further information can be found in our User guide to child and infant mortality statistics.
A stillbirth is a baby born after 24 or more weeks completed gestation and which did not, at any time, breathe or show signs of life. On 1 October 1992 the Still-Birth (Definition) Act 1992 came into force, altering the definition of a stillbirth to 24 or more weeks completed gestation, instead of 28 or more weeks completed gestation.
Data on stillbirths can be found in our recent Births in England and Wales publication. The latest available data is for 2021 which was published on 9 August 2022. The number of still births from 1927 to 2021 is available in table 1 of the dataset. Stillbirths by place of usual residence is available in table 3.
Number of Stillbirths:
- 2021 2,597
- 2020 2,371
- 2019 2,522
- 2018 2,689
- 2017 2,873
Please note that final figures for January to August 2022 will not be available until summer 2023. Provisional data would be based on birth notifications and as such would not be directly comparable with other birth statistics derived using birth registrations.
Users can request bespoke analysis using birth notifications data. The analysis would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs under the ONS Charging policy where appropriate. If you would like to discuss further or obtain a quote for this work, which is out with the Freedom of Information Act please contact the HALE Customer Services team on Health.Data@ons.gov.uk