Premature birth statistics

A premature birth is one that happens before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy.

The World Health Organization gives the following definitions for the different stages of premature birth:

• Extremely premature: before 28 weeks
• Very premature: from 28 to 31 weeks
• Moderate to late premature: from 32 to <37 weeks

General UK premature birth statistics

• The overall percentage of premature live births in England and Wales was 7.9% in 2022. This is an increase from 7.5% in 2021. This is the second consecutive year where there has been an increase in premature live births (1).  
  • This is more than 53,000 babies born prematurely in 2022.
• Premature birth rates were highest in the North West of England (8.5%) and lowest in the South West (7.5%) (1).
• In England and Wales, the percentage of premature live births varies significantly depending on the ethnicity of the baby.  
• Babies in the Black ethnic group have the highest proportion of premature births at 8.5% in 2022 in England and Wales (1).  
• When you look across all ethnic groups, babies in the Black Caribbean ethnic group have the highest premature birth rate, at 10.2% in England and Wales. This is compared to 7.7% in babies in the White ethnic group (1).  
• Of the births that were premature in England and Wales in 2022 (1):  
  • 6% were extremely premature (before 28 weeks)
  • 10% were very premature (between 28 and 32 weeks)
  • 84% were moderately premature (between 32 and <37 weeks)
• In 2022, live births where gestational age was under 24 weeks was 0.14%.

Outcomes of neonatal care for premature babies

Complications arising from premature birth is the leading cause of neonatal death (death in the first few weeks after birth) in the UK (2, 3).

For babies born at less than 32 weeks who were subsequently admitted to neonatal care between January and December 2022 (5): 

• 6.5% died before they could be discharged home
• 6.2% developed necrotising enterocolitis (a serious illness in which tissues in the intestines (gut) become inflamed and start to die)
• 7.5% experienced intraventricular haemorrhage (bleeding in the fluid filled areas (ventricles) inside the brain)
• 5.4% had a bloodstream infection causes by a microorganism
• 2.6% experienced cystic periventricular leukomalacia (a type of brain injury where the brain tissue surrounding the fluid filled areas of the brain (ventricles) is deprived of blood and oxygen)
• 39.7% developed bronchopulmonary dysplasia, a condition where the baby’s lungs don’t develop properly, or died  

Premature birth and multiple pregnancies

• Having more than one baby is a risk factor for premature birth. 50% of twin pregnancies deliver before 37 weeks gestation, and 10% deliver before 32 weeks gestation (6).
• Twins and triplets have a higher risk of being born prematurely (before 37 weeks). More twins and triplets are born early, with around 6 in 10 twins born before 37 weeks, and almost 8 in 10 triplets born before 35 weeks (7).  

Risk of disability in premature children

Generally, the earlier the birth, the higher the risk of problems. However these are only statistics and cannot predict how an individual child will do; some extremely premature babies do very well and develop into healthy children.

• 1 in 10 of all premature babies will have a permanent disability such as lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness.
• 1 in 2 premature babies born before 26 weeks of gestation will have some sort of disability (this includes mild disability such as requiring glasses) (8).

In one study of 241 children born before 26 weeks' gestation the following was found (9):

• 22% had severe disability (e.g. cerebral palsy and not walking, low cognitive scores, blindness, profound deafness)
• 24% had moderate disability (e.g. cerebral palsy and walking, IQ/cognitive scores in the special needs range, lesser degree of visual or hearing impairment)
• 34% had mild disability (defined as low IQ/cognitive score, squint, requiring glasses)
• 20% had no problems

Premature birth and ethnicity

The latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics show the percentage of premature births by ethnicity in England and Wales.

Babies from the Black ethnic group have had the highest proportion of premature births since data collection began in 2007.  

These statistics show the percentage of premature births by ethnicity in 2022 (1):

• Black: 8.5%
• Asian: 8.1%
• White: 7.7% (all)
• Mixed or Multiple:7.5%
• Any Other ethnic group: 7.9% 

Causes of premature birth

In some cases a cause of premature birth can be shown but more often it is unknown or unclear.

In 1 in 4 premature births, the birth is planned (induced labour or c-section) to save the life of mother or baby from pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, waters breaking early (PPROM) or infection.

Preventing premature birth

Too often health professionals are not able to tell women why they have had a premature birth. This area of research is underfunded, with many taking an unhelpful (and unique to pregnancy) approach of ‘It was not meant to be’.

Research into why premature birth happens is the only way we can save lives and prevent future loss. Tommy's funds £500,000 of research into premature birth every year. We are focused on predicting early which women will have a premature birth and treating them to prevent it happening through our National Centre for Preterm Birth Research. 

Read about our research into prematurity here.