Key Facts
- 17 babies die every day in the UK (10 are stillbirths, 7 are neonatal deaths) totalling almost 6,500 baby deaths a year - the equivalent of 16 jumbo jets crashing every year with no survivors.
- This is four times the number of people who die every year of MRSA (1,593 MRSA deaths in 2007, UK Statistics Authority)
- This is double the number of adults who lose their lives on Britain’s roads every year (2007 – 2,940 people were killed on the roads, Department of Transport).
- Ten times more babies are stillborn than die of cot death every year in the UK.
- The stillbirth rate has remained almost unchanged for the past 10 years. (CEMACH)
- 1 in every 200 babies are stillborn in the UK
- 1 in every 300 babies born in the UK die in the first four weeks of life
- In half of all stillbirths the cause remains unexplained, although in more than half of these pregnancies the baby is smaller than it should be.
- Many of these babies are born perfectly formed, with no clear reason why they died. We need to understand what is causing these deaths and take action to prevent avoidable losses.
- The majority of unexplained stillbirths are in pregnancies that were previously considered low risk.
- Stillbirth is when a baby is born dead after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy
- Neonatal death is when a baby is born alive but dies within the first 28 days of life
