This statistical release presents information on prenatal deaths in South Africa for prenatal deaths that occurred in 2011 - 2013 based on all perinatal death notification forms from the civil registration system maintained by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). Specifically, the release provides statistics on the causes of perinatal deaths focusing on the main cause of death. Information on perinatal deaths for the period 1997�{2010 has also been included to show trends in perinatal deaths.
Registered perinatal deaths have been constantly increasing from 13 020 in 1997 to 25 287 in 2009 then decreased in 2010 to 24 093 and there was no consistent pattern thereafter. The number of perinatal deaths that occurred in 2013 was 22 116. Between 2012 and 2013 there was a decrease of 0.5% to 22 116 from a total of 23 167 perinatal deaths that occurred in 2012.

Differentials in perinatal deaths by sex showed that from 1997 to 2013, the proportion of male deaths has always been higher than that of female deaths. The sex ratio at death for perinatal deaths in the seventeen year period has consistently been more than 100 male per 100 female deaths with the highest sex ratio recorded in 2006 (135). 

The distribution of perinatal deaths by province showed that KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng consistently were the two provinces with the highest proportion of perinatal deaths in each of the three years. This is however reflective of the fact that these provinces are the most populated in South Africa. In 2013, the highest proportion of perinatal deaths occurred in Kwazulu-Natal (24,3%) followed by Gauteng (23,4%). The Western Cape and Limpopo province each comprised of 9, 7% and 9.6%, respectively in 2013 with Northern Cape (3,1%) having the lowest proportion of perinatal deaths amongst all the nine provinces.

Throughout the three year period the distribution of perinatal deaths by population group showed that the black African population group contributed higher percentages to the total number of perinatal deaths each year.

The distribution of early neonatal deaths for each of the three years showed that more than 50% of neonatal deaths occurred between 24 hours and 167 hours (1-7 days) after birth. In 2013 the proportion of early neonatal deaths occurring before one hour of birth decreased to 2.6% from 22.1% in 2011, while the proportion of early neonatal deaths occurring between one hour of birth and 23 hours increased from 19.5% in 2011 to 34.6% in 2013.

In the period 2011 - 2013, the majority of perinatal deaths resulted from the main group of underlying cause certain conditions originating in the perinatal period accounting for more than 90% deaths each year for both sexes. There was no significant difference in the underlying causes of death by sex for perinatal deaths. Perinatal deaths due to the main group external causes of morbidity and mortality was less than 2,0% for each of the three years. For stillbirths, there were only three applicable main groups with certain conditions originating in the perinatal period accounting for more than two-third of stillbirths in each year.

The trend analysis of causes of death for the three-year period show that the highest proportion of stillbirths (20,8%) was attributed to foetus and newborn affected by maternal factors and by complications of pregnancy, labour and delivery as an underlying cause for the highest proportion of stillbirths, increasing to 24,5% of stillbirths in 2013.  The ten leading causes of death for neonates indicates that respiratory and cardiovascular disorders specific to the perinatal period was the leading cause of death in all age groups (less than one hour, 1−23 hours and 24−167 hours (1−7 days)) for the years 2011 to 2013. Over the same period, the second leading cause of death for age groups 1−23 hours and 24−167 hours was disorders related to length of gestation and foetal growth. Disorders related to length of gestation and foetal growth moved from the fourth rank in 2011 and 2012 for neonates aged less than one hour to the second rank in 2013.

The top five leading causes of death for stillbirths represent more than 95% of stillbirths while the top five leading causes of death for early neonates represent more than 80% of early neonatal deaths in each of the three years.