Stillbirth statistics

Stillbirth statistics  

• In 2022, around 1 in every 250 pregnancies ended in stillbirth.
• Approximately 8 babies were stillborn every day in 2022 (1).
• There were 2,680 stillbirths in the UK in 2022 (2,433 in England & Wales (1); 176 in Scotland (4); 71 Northern Ireland (5)).
• The stillbirth rate in England and Wales in 2022 decreased to 4.0 stillbirths per 1,000 total births from 4.1 in 2021. This is still higher than pre-pandemic levels (1).
• In order to achieve the government ambition of halving the 2010 stillbirth rate by 2025, the rate would need to reduce to 2.6 stillbirths per 1,000 total births (1).
• Compared to 17 countries that are comparable to the UK (as defined by the Kings Fund (11)), the UK had the 12th worst stillbirth rate in 2021. This is worse than countries such as Spain, Italy, Sweden and Ireland (12). 

Neonatal death Statistics

• In 2022, 1924 babies died in their first 28 days of life in the UK. This is a neonatal mortality rate of 2.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, an increase from 2.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021 (3).  
• For every 1,000 babies born, nearly 3 died within 28 days in 2022 in the UK (3). 

Ethnicity, deprivation and stillbirth

• Babies from the Black ethnic group continued to have the highest stillbirth rate of 6.5 per 1,000 births, compared with 3.5 for the White ethnic group. Asian stillbirth rate is 4.7 per 1,000 births(2).  
• Stillbirth rate varies among different ethnicities (3):
  • Bangladeshi: 4.5 per 1,000 births
  • Indian: 4.3 per 1,000 births
  • Pakistani: 5.1 per 1,000 births
  • Any other Asian background: 4.7 per 1,000 births
  • Black African: 6.9 per 1,000 births
  • Black Caribbean: 4.6 per 1,000 births
  • Any other Black background: 6.0 per 1,000 births
• The stillbirth rate per 1,000 births in the 10% most deprived area was 5.0 in England and 6.3 in Wales; in the 10% least deprived areas, the stillbirth rate was 3.7 in England and 3.6 in Wales (2).  

Stillbirth risks

• Compared with women who had a live birth in their first pregnancy, those who had experienced a stillbirth were nearly 5 times more likely to experience a stillbirth in their second pregnancy (8).
• Nearly a third of pregnant women in Wales were classed as obese by their BMI score (30 or above) at initial assessment. This proportion has increased every year since data was first collected in 2016 (6).  
• According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, if you have a BMI of 30 or above your risk of stillbirth is doubled compared to someone with a BMI lower than 30 (13).
• In women who smoke during pregnancy, the risk of stillbirth goes up depending on how much is smoked, but overall smoking is associated with a 47% increase in the odds of stillbirth (8):
  • The risk of stillbirth is 52% higher in pregnant women who smoked 10 or more cigarettes a day.
  • The risk of stillbirth was 9% higher for those smoking 1 to 9 cigarettes a day.  

Why do stillbirths happen?

• According to one study of 1064 pregnancies, around 60% of stillbirths are unexplained. Doctors cannot tell parents why their baby died (9).
• The same study ranked the following reasons for the stillbirths that could be explained:
  
  • 17% caused by ascending infection
  • 12% caused by placenta factors, including placental abruption and pre-eclampsia
  • 5% caused by congenital abnormality
  • 2% caused by fetal growth restriction
  • 2% caused by complications with twins

Reduced fetal movement and stillbirth

When a baby is getting less oxygen or nutrients in the womb, they will move less to conserve energy, therefore reduced baby movements can be a sign that something is wrong and should be reported immediately (10).  

• More than 50% of mothers who had a stillbirth noticed slowing down of baby movements beforehand (10).  

Stillbirth and mental health

• In Wales, three out of ten pregnant women reported a mental health condition at initial assessment. This proportion has increased every year since data was first collected in 2016. Younger pregnant women were more likely to report a mental health condition than older pregnant women (6).
• The percentage of pregnant women from Mixed ethnic backgrounds and White ethnic backgrounds reporting a mental health condition was more than three times higher than pregnant women from Black or Asian ethnic backgrounds (6).
• A systematic review carried out in 2021 looked at the rates of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in parents after stillbirth. 13 studies were included, and the researchers found that parents who had experienced stillbirth had increased levels of reporting of all three mental health conditions compared to parents with live births (14).  
• Researchers at our Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre have found that stillbirth had ‘a significant and long-lasting impact’ on bereaved parents’ health, leading to a lower quality of life and poorer health (15).  
  • The researchers used a standard set of questions to compare the health and wellbeing of parents affected by stillbirth and neonatal death with other groups of people of the same age.
  • The 256 bereaved parents who took part in the study had lower scores than the general population, on average, indicating their health and quality of life was worse. This also indicates that stillbirth has a long-term impact on health and wellbeing.  

Media requests about stillbirth

Our clinicians, scientists and researchers are available to speak about stillbirth and stillbirth statistics for press and media. If you are a journalist interested in speaking to a clinician from Tommy's stillbirth research centre, please contact Tommy's press office on 0207 398 3436 or email [email protected].

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Stillbirth information and support

Read about what Tommy's is doing to reduce stillbirth rates