Infant Mortality

This Statistical Bulletin presents statistics on infant and perinatal deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2011. Figures are presented by a range of biological and social factors that are associated with high rates of infant mortality. These include birthweight, mother's age at birth of child, mother's country of birth, marital status, parity (the total number of births a woman has had previously) and father's socio-economic status based on his occupation.

Presents data on stillbirths and infant deaths by gestational age at birth, birthweight and Office for National Statistics (ONS) cause groups, plus analyses on some of the key risk factors affecting stillbirths and infant deaths including ethnic group, mother’s age and NS-SEC based on father’s occupation.

This report on unexplained infant deaths in England and Wales includes both sudden infant deaths and deaths for which the cause remained unascertained after a full investigation.

This bulletin presents statistics on infant and perinatal deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2010. Perinatal deaths are stillbirths and deaths that occur during the first week of life. Infant deaths are those that occur in the first year of life.

Births registered in England and Wales are linked to birth notifications records to utilise key variables. These linked records are further linked to death registration records. This permits publication of live births and infant deaths by ethnicity and gestational age, and additionally by birthweight, multiplicity of births, mother's age, marital status (registration type) and father's occupation. This release reports on the data subnationally.

This bulletin looks at unexplained infant deaths which are one aspect of infant mortality. Reporting the findings helps understanding of some of the risk factors for these unexplained infant deaths.

No. 50, Summer 2011

This bulletin presents statistics on births that occurred in England and Wales in 2007 or 2008 and which have been linked to birth notifications data. The electronic system for the notification of each birth allocates NHS numbers and key birth details not collected at birth registration are included on this NHS Numbers for Babies (NN4B) system. This birth dataset linking registration and notification data is further linked to death registration records for babies who died before their first birthday. This permits an analysis of births and infant deaths by gestational age and ethnicity.

This bulletin presents statistics on infant and perinatal deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2009. Infant deaths are those that occur in the first year of life. Perinatal deaths are stillbirths and deaths that occur during the first week of life. The report focuses on the 98 per cent of infant deaths which have been successfully linked to their corresponding birth records (see Background note 2). This linkage enables analysis of infant and perinatal deaths by risk factors collected at birth registration. These include birthweight, mother's age at birth of child, mother's country of birth, marital status, parity and father's socio-economic status based on his occupation.

The figures presented for 2008 in this report relate to live births, stillbirths and infant deaths that occurred in England and Wales in 2008 and comprise the infant deaths which had been linked to their corresponding birth records by 22 September 2009. Only infant deaths that have been linked to their corresponding birth records are indluded as linkage enables analysis of infant and perinatal deaths by risk factors collected at birth registration. These include birthweight, mother's age at birth of child, mother's country of birth, marital status, parity and father's socio-economic status based on his occupation.

This report on unexplained infant deaths in England and Wales from 2003 to 2007 includes both sudden infant deaths and deaths for which the cause remained unascertained after full investigation.

This report presents statistics on gestation-specific infant mortality by social and biological factors for all babies born in England and Wales in 2006. It includes, for the first time, gestation-specific infant mortality rates by ethnic group.

This report on unexplained infant deaths in England and Wales includes both sudden infant deaths and deaths for which the cause remained unknown or unascertained after a full investigation. The report includes analysis of all unexplained deaths and those certified as sudden infant deaths from 2002 to 2006.