The proportion of live births of low birth weight per 100 live births in a given year.
Calculation
Number of live births weighting less than 2500 grams in a given year, expressed as a percentage of total number of live births (of any birth weight).
Relevant dimensions and subgroups
Calendar year
Country
Region (according to ISARE recommendations)
Age of mother.
Preferred data type and data source
Preferred data type
(In preference order)
1) Birth registries and perinatal databases
2) Perinatal surveys
Preferred data source
WHO-HfA
Data availability
WHO-HfA: data available for the EU-27. Data available at least from early 1980s onwards, except for DE, EE, HR, LV and LI for which time series start later and for NL which data exists only for a couple of years. No data by region, or by age of mother. The ISARE project on regional data has collected data on low birth weight (indicators: Number of low birth weights, and: Percentage of low birth weights).
Data periodicity
Data are being updated annually.
Rationale
Important indicator for pregnancy conditions and perinatal care. Low birth weight is associated with health-problems later in life.
Remarks
Birth weight is an accurately measured indicator. Babies can be low birth weight because they are born early, because they are growth restricted or both.
Ideally, comparisons between countries in Europe should take into consideration also differences in average birth weight and in birth weight distributions.
WHO publishes the data for live births weighing 2500 g or more for live births, but low birth weights can be calculated from this information.
PERISTAT is an EU-funded project on evaluating and monitoring perinatal health in Europe. PERISTAT calculates, which is scientifically preferable, low birth weight as the number of live births and stillbirths (from 22 weeks of gestation) weighting less than 2500 grams in a given year, expressed as a percentage of total number of all registered live and stillbirths of any birth weight. PERISTAT has data only for years 2000 (15 countries) and 2004 (26 countries). Next data round is planned for 2010 data.
Only if and when Eurostat starts to collect data according to the PERISTAT definition, can Eurostat data be presented.
For PERISTAT project 2000 data please see: the Special Issue of the European Journal for Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Volume 111 (2003), Supplement 1, S1–S87.
Definition
