Table
19
Table 19
presents late foetal death ratios specific for age of mother and total birth
order for as many years as possible between 1990 and 1999.
Description of
variables: Late foetal deaths are foetal deaths of 28 or more completed weeks of
gestation[1]. Foetal deaths of unknown gestational age
are included with those of 28 or more weeks.
Age is
defined as age at last birthday, that is, the difference between the date of
birth and the date of the occurrence of the event, expressed in completed solar
years. The age classification used
in this table is the following under 20 years, 5-year age groups through 40-44
years, and 45 years and over.
Total
birth order is defined as the numerical order of the late foetal death being
recorded in relation to all previous issue of the mother, irrespective of
whether the issue was live-born or born dead (foetal death). Except where
otherwise indicated, 10 categories are used to classify total-birth order: 1
through 9 and 10 or more total births.
Ratio
computation: The ratios for total late foetal deaths by birth order specific for
age of mother are the number of total late foetal deaths in each birth-order/age
group (as shown in table 18 per
When late
foetal deaths to mothers of unknown age are less than 10 per cent of the total,
they have been distributed proportionately in accordance with late foetal deaths
to mothers of known age by the Statistics Division of the United Nations prior
to computing the ratios. Births to
mothers of unknown age have also been distributed proportionately in accordance
with births to mothers of known age.
Late
foetal deaths for which birth order was unknown were not distributed and rates
were not computed for this category.
When late
foetal deaths to mothers of unknown age are 10 per cent or more of the total,
then ratios were not computed.
Ratios presented in this table have also been limited to those for
countries or areas having at least a total of
Reliability
of data: Data from civil registers of late foetal deaths which are reported as
incomplete (less than 90 per cent completeness) or of unknown completeness are
considered unreliable and are set in italics rather than in roman type. Table 15 and the technical notes for
that table provide more detailed information on the completeness of late foetal
death registration. For more
information about the quality of vital statistics in general, and the
information available on the basis of the completeness estimates in particular,
see section 4.2 of the Technical Notes.
Limitations: The
ratios shown in this table are subject to the some limitations which affect the
numerators and denominators used in their computation. These limitations are described in the
technical notes for tables18 and 6 respectively.
In
interpreting these data it should be noted that the data in the numerator refer
to total birth order, while the data in the denominator refer to the live-birth
order.
The
limited coverage of this table is the result of the operation of several
criteria that had to be met before ratios were computed. Chief among these was the location of a
distribution of live births as corresponding to the late foetal-death series,
i.e., cross-classified by age of mother and total birth order. In the absence of a direct
correspondence in birth-order composition, an assumption was allowed; this was
that if the method of determining birth order was unknown for late foetal
deaths, but known to be birth order for total births, the two series were
considered to correspond.
Coverage: Late
foetal death ratios specific for age of mother and total-birth order are shown
for 16 countries or areas.
Earlier
data: Late foetal death ratios specific for age of mother and total birth order
have been shown previously in issues of the Demographic Yearbook featuring
natality. For information on years
covered, readers should consult the Index.