Data and notes
Key concepts
Perinatal mortality
Perinatal deaths are those occurring prior to or during labour and/or birth (stillbirth), or up to 28 days after birth (neonatal death), where babies are of 20 or more completed weeks gestation or have a birthweight of at least 400 grams. The National Perinatal Data Collection includes live births and stillbirths, where gestational age is at least 20 weeks or birthweight is at least 400 grams, except in Victoria and Western Australia, where births are included if gestational age is at least 20 weeks or, if gestation is unknown, birthweight is at least 400 grams.
See the Methods section in the AIHW (2022) Australia’s mothers and babies report for more detail on calculating perinatal mortality rates.
Related material
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework
- Measure 1.01 Birthweight
- Measure 1.20 Infant and child mortality
- Measure 2.20 Breastfeeding practices
- Measure 2.21 Health behaviours during pregnancy
- Measure 3.01 Antenatal care
Data source
National Perinatal Data Collection
The National Perinatal Data Collection (NPDC) is a national population-based cross-sectional collection of data on pregnancy and childbirth. The data are based on births reported to the perinatal data collection in each state and territory in Australia. Midwives and other birth attendants, using information obtained from mothers and from hospital or other records, complete notification forms for each birth.
Further information is available on the AIHW website.