Stillbirth by the Numbers

If you're new to stillbirth issues, the numbers are shocking. To those of us who have traveled this road for far too long, the numbers no longer shock. They depress. They mystify--if the numbers are so high, why is there not more awareness, as there is for SIDS, for autism, for breast cancer? So here they are, the numbers of stillbirth, in black and white.

- there are 26,000 stillbirths in the U.S. each year
- there are 4 million stillbirths in the world every year
- there are 900,000 early pregnancy losses in the U.S. each year
- there are nearly 20,000 neonatal losses each year in the U.S.
- approximately 1 in 115 births will result in a stillbirth in the U.S.
- this equates to one stillbirth every 20 minutes
- in Australia, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the rate of stillbirth is approximately 1 in every 200 births
- in Scotland the rate of stillbirth is approximately 1 in 167
- about 50-60% of stillbirths will never be explained