This statistical release focuses on perinatal deaths in South Africa. Information on perinatal deaths is obtained from the civil registration system maintained by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). The release provides information on perinatal deaths in 2015 as well as trends in the number of perinatal deaths covering the period 1997 to 2015. Additionally, causes of perinatal deaths for the period 2013 to 2015 are included in the release to monitor whether there have been changes in the leading underlying natural causes of perinatal deaths during this period. Perinatal deaths include information on stillbirths and early neonatal deaths (deaths within 7 days of life).

 
A total of 21 378 perinatal deaths occurred in 2015.This was a slight decline from the 22 948 perinatal deaths observed in 2014, representing a decline of 6,8% in perinatal deaths. Trends in perinatal deaths from 1997 to 2015 show that perinatal deaths increased gradually from 1997 to 2004. There was a slight decline in 2005, which was followed by a steady increase until 2009. The highest number of perinatal deaths was recorded in 2009 with a total of 25 310 deaths. Thereafter there was no consistent pattern. The majority of perinatal deaths in 2015 were stillbirths accounting for 64,1% of perinatal deaths and the remaining third were early neonatal deaths (35,9%) With the exception of 1997 and 1998, stillbirths have consistently been higher that early neonatal deaths for all perinatal deaths in the period 1997 to 2015.

Throughout the 19-year period (1997-2015), differentials in perinatal deaths by sex show that there were more male than female stillbirths and early neonatal deaths. For stillbirths, the gap between male and female stillbirths was narrower in the early years becoming wider as the years progressed. The same pattern was observed for perinatal deaths with the exception of the period 2009-2011 where there was a sharp decline in male perinatal deaths, while for females the decline was not as steep. Sex ratios by province indicate that for all the provinces, there were more male stillbirths, early neonatal and perinatal deaths compared to females since all provinces had sex ratios above 100. The province with the highest sex ratio for stillbirths was Free State (138) while Northern Cape had the highest sex ratio for both early neonatal deaths (156) and perinatal deaths (141). The national average for stillbirths was 122 male stillbirths per 100 female stillbirths, 130 male early neonatal deaths per 100 female early neonatal deaths and 124 male perinatal deaths per 100 female perinatal deaths.

Differentials by age for early neonatal deaths highlight that the number of early neonatal deaths decreased with an increase in age. The same pattern was observed for differentials in stillbirths by birthweight, whereby the proportion of stillbirths decreased with an increase in birthweight. The perinatal death rate in 2015 was estimated at 17,4 perinatal deaths per 1 000 total births. Early neonatal death rate was estimated at 6,3 early neonatal deaths per 1 000 total births, while stillbirth rate was estimated at 11,2 stillbirths per 1 000 total births. Population group differentials show that black Africans had the highest proportion for all three categories (stillbirths, early neonatal and perinatal deaths).

Results from the causes of death show that more than 90% of stillbirths, early neonatal deaths and perinatal deaths resulted from the main group certain conditions originating in the perinatal period. The distribution of the ten leading underlying natural causes of stillbirths showed that fetus and newborn affected by maternal factors and by complications of pregnancy, labour and delivery maintained its rank as the top-ranking cause of stillbirths in the three year period from 2013 to 2015. For the period 2013 to 2015, the leading underlying natural cause of death for early neonatal deaths was respiratory and cardiovascular disorders specific to the perinatal period.

Differentials by sex show that fetus and newborn affected by maternal factors and by complications of pregnancy, labour and delivery was the most common underlying cause of death for both sexes, accounting for 20,7% perinatal deaths amongst males and 22,4% perinatal deaths amongst females.

  
The findings from this statistical release are essential for planning, monitoring and evaluation of interventions and programs aimed at improving the health and survival of infants since perinatal mortality is a useful indicator of the quality of antenatal and perinatal care. The quality of data on mother's characteristics for the 2015 statistical release was poor, however it is expected that its quality will improve as more deaths get captured using the for DHA-1663.