This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from UK statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from UK statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other UK-specific metadata information.
| Indicator available |
Number of neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births |
|---|---|
| Indicator description |
These data show the number of neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births in the UK. These statististics are derived from information recorded when births and deaths are registered in England and Wales as part of civil registration, a legal requirement. Data presented by the UN may differ as a Bayesian model is used for the international methodology. |
| Geographical coverage |
United Kingdom |
| Unit of measurement |
Rate per 1,000 live births |
| Definitions |
Neonatal death - The death of an infant when the age of the infant is under 28 days. Early neonatal - The death of an infant when the age of the infant is under 7 days. Late neonatal - The death of an infant when the age of the infant is between 7 and 27 days. For specific information about disaggregation definitions see 'Available disaggregations' below. |
| Available disaggregations |
Figures for the UK are only available for the headline data and for sex. Neonatal period - Figures are given for early, and overall neonatal period for all characteristics. Figures are not shown here for the late neonatal period for Northern Ireland, and for sex by country of occurrence for Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales due to low reliability of rates. These data are, however, available in the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. Country - Country of occurrence. The separate figures for England and Wales exclude deaths of non-residents. The figures for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales combined include deaths of non-residents. They should therefore not be directly compared to the separate figures for England and Wales. The UK figure is calculated from figures for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England and Wales combined. Country of occurrence is available by sex for all countries, and by sex and neonatal period for England, and England and Wales. Region - Region of residence (note that this differs to Country, which is area of occurrence). Region is only available when 'England' is selected in the Country dropdown menu. Lower levels of geography (e.g. county) are also available in the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. They are not shown here due to the level of uncertainty in many of the rates. Age - Age of mother. Only available when England and Wales is selected in Country. More detailed data (age of mother by birthweight) are available in Table 10 of the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. These figures are not included here due to the number of rates with low reliability. Birthweight - Only available when England and Wales is selected in Country. Some rates, in particular for some of the lowest and highest birthweights have low reliability. These are identified in the data download and in the source data. Birthweight is also available by mother's age and country of birth in the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. Country of birth - Mother's country of birth. Only available when England and Wales is selected in Country. Country of birth data prior to 2010 are not shown as country groupings differ to later years. Antarctica and Oceania, Rest of Europe (non EU), the Americas and Caribbean, and 'Other' countries have a lot of rates with low reliability. Countries included in each grouping are given in the Country code listings table of the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. Smaller groupings of countries are also available but not shown here due to low reliability. Sex - Sex of the baby. Ethnicity - Ethnicity of the baby. Ethnicity is also available for Wales, but is not shown here due to low reliability of the rates. Data on further characteristics are also available from the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. |
| Calculations |
Where late neonatal mortality rates were not provided in the source data, the following calculation was carried out (with the one exception given below): (Number of neonatal deaths - number of early neonatal deaths) / (number of live births / 1000) For Northern Ireland figures by Sex the above calculation was not possible because number of live births excludes births to non-resident mothers, while the number of deaths includes non-residents. Therefore, for Northern Ireland the following calculation was used (which is less precise by up to 0.1 because of rounding) - Neonatal mortality rate - Early neonatal mortality rate |
| Other information |
Births and deaths of residents of England and Wales that occur and are registered outside of England and Wales are not included. Important information on the strengths and limitations of the data, the quality of the output, uses and users, and how the output was created are given in the Child and infant mortality Quality and Methodology Information document. Where the number of deaths is smaller than 3, rates are not given. Non-residents are included in the rates for England and Wales combined, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. However, non-residents are excluded from rates for England, and Wales. The reason why non-residents are treated differently is because the figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are consistent with figures published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) respectively, and each organisation uses slightly different definitions. This does have a small knock-on effect on comparability but the differences that non-residents make to rates are relatively small – at the most, including/excluding non-residents leads to a difference of 0.1 in the rates shown. Please see the User guide to child and infant mortality statistics for information on comparability between countries. Rates are not calculated where there are fewer than 3 deaths in a cell. It is ONS practice not to calculate rates where there are fewer than 3 deaths in a cell, as rates based on such low numbers are susceptible to inaccurate interpretation. These values have been left blank and are flagged as 'Missing value; suppressed' in the observation status of the downloadable csv. Some figures shown have low reliability (rates based on between 3 and 19 deaths). This means that their reliability as a measure may be affected by the small number of events. Information on reliability is given in the observation status column in the downloadable csv. In particular, late neonatal figures have low reliability for some birthweights and some country of birth levels. See available disaggregations above for more information. Breakdowns by birthweight, sex, mother's country of birth and age are only given where deaths could be linked to their corresponding birth registration record. For the data years 2007 onwards, deaths that linked to their birth registration are then linked to birth notification data, enabling statistics by ethnicity of the baby. The linkage rate to both data sources is above 95% for all years except 2020, for which the linkage rate was 90.5%. For more information see the cover sheet in the Child mortality (death cohort) tables in England and Wales. Data follows the UN specification for this indicator. This indicator has been identified in collaboration with topic experts. |
| Data last updated | 24 June 2022 |
| Metadata last updated | 02 May 2023 |