World | Low-birthweight babies (% of births)
Low-birthweight babies are newborns weighing less than 2,500 grams, with the measurement taken within the first hour of life, before significant postnatal weight loss has occurred. Development relevance: Low birth-weight, which is associated with maternal malnutrition, raises the risk of infant mortality and stunts growth in infancy and childhood. There is also emerging evidence that low-birth-weight babies are more prone to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Low birth-weight can arise as a result of a baby being born too soon or too small for gestational age. Babies born prematurely, who are also small for their gestational age, have the worst prognosis.
In low- and middle-income countries low birth-weight stems primarily from poor maternal health and nutrition. Three factors have the most impact: poor maternal nutritional status before conception, mother's short stature (due mostly to under-nutrition and infections during childhood), and poor nutrition during pregnancy (UNICEF Data, https://data.unicef.org/).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
World
Records
63
Source
|
value
Min
Max
|
year |
|---|---|
| 1960 | |
| 1961 | |
| 1962 | |
| 1963 | |
| 1964 | |
| 1965 | |
| 1966 | |
| 1967 | |
| 1968 | |
| 1969 | |
| 1970 | |
| 1971 | |
| 1972 | |
| 1973 | |
| 1974 | |
| 1975 | |
| 1976 | |
| 1977 | |
| 1978 | |
| 1979 | |
| 1980 | |
| 1981 | |
| 1982 | |
| 1983 | |
| 1984 | |
| 1985 | |
| 1986 | |
| 1987 | |
| 1988 | |
| 1989 | |
| 1990 | |
| 1991 | |
| 1992 | |
| 1993 | |
| 1994 | |
| 1995 | |
| 1996 | |
| 1997 | |
| 1998 | |
| 1999 | |
| 16.568994 | 2000 |
| 16.6229841 | 2001 |
| 16.5452548 | 2002 |
| 16.429444 | 2003 |
| 16.2645707 | 2004 |
| 16.0839556 | 2005 |
| 15.8875133 | 2006 |
| 15.7097894 | 2007 |
| 15.538529 | 2008 |
| 15.4212737 | 2009 |
| 15.3210367 | 2010 |
| 15.2135806 | 2011 |
| 15.0010297 | 2012 |
| 14.9692176 | 2013 |
| 14.7607306 | 2014 |
| 14.756105 | 2015 |
| 14.6215251 | 2016 |
| 14.5056195 | 2017 |
| 14.6457713 | 2018 |
| 14.6201805 | 2019 |
| 14.7171562 | 2020 |
| 2021 | |
| 2022 |
World | Low-birthweight babies (% of births)
Low-birthweight babies are newborns weighing less than 2,500 grams, with the measurement taken within the first hour of life, before significant postnatal weight loss has occurred. Development relevance: Low birth-weight, which is associated with maternal malnutrition, raises the risk of infant mortality and stunts growth in infancy and childhood. There is also emerging evidence that low-birth-weight babies are more prone to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Low birth-weight can arise as a result of a baby being born too soon or too small for gestational age. Babies born prematurely, who are also small for their gestational age, have the worst prognosis.
In low- and middle-income countries low birth-weight stems primarily from poor maternal health and nutrition. Three factors have the most impact: poor maternal nutritional status before conception, mother's short stature (due mostly to under-nutrition and infections during childhood), and poor nutrition during pregnancy (UNICEF Data, https://data.unicef.org/).
Publisher
The World Bank
Origin
World
Records
63
Source