The Changes in the Birth and Mortality Rates of Newborn in Korea

Chong-Woo Bae

doi:10.5124/jkma.2006.49.11.975

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 49(11); 2006 > Article

Bae: The Changes in the Birth and Mortality Rates of Newborn in Korea

Special Issue

The Present and Future in the Management of Premature Infants: Korean Perspective

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2006; 49(11): 975-982.

Published online: November 30, 2006

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2006.49.11.975

The Changes in the Birth and Mortality Rates of Newborn in Korea

Chong-Woo Bae, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Kyunghee University College of Medicine, Korea. baecw@khnmc.or.kr

Abstract

Birth rate and neonatal mortality are two important indicators that represent the heath-care situation of a nation. This article reviews the changes in birth rate, incidence and mortality of prematurity, low birth weight infant (LBWI), and very LBWI (VLBWI) in Korea over the past decades. The crude birth rate has decreased remarkably in Korea. The total number of live-birth infants was 438,062 and the birth rate was 9.0/1,000 population in Korea. The incidence of prematurity, LBWI, and VLBWI showed an increasing trend nowadays, with 8.4%, 7.2%, and 1.4%, respectively, which were similar with those in Japan and USA. Since hospitals began to have neonatal nursery units in the 1960s, the mortality rate of LBWI and VLBWI has decreased remarkably over the last 40 years. The decrease in mortality rates of LBW and VLBWI due to the progress of neonatology is very encouraging, since the recent rates are comparable to those in developed countries such as Japan and USA. We need to make further efforts to reduce the infant mortality rate by reducing the mortality of LBWI and VLBWI.

Newborn; Prematurity; Low birth weight infant; Incidence; Mortality

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Figure 1

Distribution by gestational period in newborn

Figure 2

Changes of mortality in 5-year interval of low birth weight infant(LBWI) and very low birth weight infant(VLBWI) in Korea. A, first half of the decade; B, second half of the decade (1)

Figure 3

Comparison of survival rate of very low birth weight infant in Korea, japan and U.S.A

Table 1

Changes of Number of Live-Birth and Crude Birth Rate in Korea

^*Korean National Statistical Office(2006.8): National Statistics of Birth and Death in Korea on 2005, http://www.nso.go.kr (Ref. 2)

Table 2

Crude Live-birth Rate and Total Number of Birth in One Women in Each Nations

Japan (www.mhw.go.jp), USA NCHS (www.cdc.gov), UN Demographic yearbook 2003, Eurostat(www.europa.eu.int) (Ref. 2)

Table 3

Distribution by Gestational Period^*

^*Korean National Statistical Office(2006.8): National Statistics of Birth and Death in Korea on 2005, http://www.nso.go.kr GP: gestational period, S: single, M: multiple. T: total (Ref. 2)

Table 4

Recent reports on survival rate in very low birth weight and extremely very low birth weight infants in Korea

^*Ref. 14, ^**Ref. 15, ^***Ref. 16, ^†Ref. 17, ^††Ref. 18, ^§Ref. 19, ^∥Ref. 20, ^∥Ref. 21