This is the latest edition of our “featured chart”, where we take a closer look at some of the insights on our data hub. This month, MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK) published their eleventh state of the nation report.

The latest data from 2024 show a stagnation in the UK stillbirth rate (babies who are born without any signs of life after 24 weeks’ gestation per 1,000 births) as 3.2 per 1,000 births, the same as 2023. While this is a 24.2% decline since 2013 when MBRRACE-UK data were first recorded, progress in recent years has stalled.

MBRRACE-UK also reports the stillbirth rate in each of the devolved UK nations and shows unacceptable variation between them. Although mortality rates tend to vary more each year in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales due to the smaller populations, the stillbirth rate in Wales has been the highest in the UK for the past three consecutive years. Rates across the UK lag behind the best-performing countries in Europe; Europeristat recorded Estonia with a rate of 1.8 stillbirths per 1,000 births back in 2019.

We have called for governments across the UK to set new ambitions to save more babies’ lives, focussed on matching the best performing countries in Europe. Agreeing a common ambition would eliminate variation across the UK and make progress a political priority going forward. 

As health is a devolved matter, each government must commit to these ambitions and set out how they will be achieved. This year can and should be a pivotal moment for improving maternity and neonatal care in the UK. A major assessment of services has been completed in Wales, an investigation is about to report in England, another has been confirmed in Scotland, and a regional action plan for maternity is due to start in Northern Ireland shortly.   

This autumn, we will publish our annual Saving Babies’ Lives Progress Report with tailored policy briefings for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales where we will set out our policy suggestions to save more babies’ lives. 

Links:  

Interactive featured chart on our  data hub