Table
17
Table 17
presents late foetal deaths ratios specific for age of mother for as many years
as possible between 1990 and 1998.
Description of
variables: Late foetal deaths are foetal deaths[1]
of 28 or more completed weeks of gestational age. Foetal deaths of unknown gestational age
are included with those of 28 or more weeks.
Age is identified 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 complete 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.
Ratio
computation: Late foetal death ratios specific for age of mother are the number
of late foetal deaths in each age group of mother (as shown in table 16) per
When late
foetal deaths to mothers of unknown age are 10 per cent or more of the total,
then ratios are not computed.
Ratios presented in this table have also been limited to those 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 same limitations which affect the
numerators and denominators used in their computation. These limitations are described in the
technical notes for tables 16 and 4 respectively.
In
addition, some idea of the relative reliability of the late foetal-death and
live-birth components may be gained by examining the ratios. When both components of the ratios are
of approximately equal reliability in terms of completeness and of age-reporting
accuracy, the ratios will increase uniformly with increasing age. If, on the other hand, live births are
more completely registered than late foetal deaths, the ratios may show no
systematic increase with age, but rather, discontinuities and even
decreases. Ratios for several
countries or areas exemplify this tendency.
Furthermore,
in countries or areas where infants dying before registration of birth or within
the first 24 hours after birth are included with late foetal deaths instead of
with live births, the resultant ratios are artificially inflated. Such cases are footnoted in the
table.
Coverage: Late
foetal death ratios specific for age of mother are shown for 21 countries or
areas.
Earlier data:
Late foetal death ratios specific for age of mother have been shown previously
in issues of the Demographic Yearbook featuring natality. For information on years covered,
readers should consult the Index.