Telling an Old Story with New Maps - Geographic Visualization: Concepts, Tools and Applications - page 71

5.2.1 Stillbirths
In many places it is common for death to occur at or before birth: 3 million are born dead
every year. This is almost as many deaths as those that occur in the first week of life. To those
3 million annual neonatal deaths add another 4 million who die in the remainder of their
first year; and another 3 million who die every year in the next 4 years of life. In sum this
is 10 million that are born alive under 5 in total dying each year, over 50 million dead in
5 years - and that is not counting the 15 million born dead every 5 years. Figure 5.3 shows
where most are stillborn and Text Box 5.2 provides a little context. This is the map of those
whonevergettolive.
Text Box 5.2: Stillbirths
Stillborn means dead at birth. In 2000 there were 3.3 million stillbirths worldwide;
more than a third of these occurred in Southern Asia.
The number of stillbirths for every 1000 births varies between regions; where parents
live greatly affects the chance of a stillbirth. In Central Africa, there are 42 stillbirths
for every 1000 births; the Western European rate is a tenth of this. Mauritania has the
highest rate of stillbirths at 6.3%. Generally, the richer the territory, the fewer stillbirths
occur there.
He was beautiful; perfect in every way, except he never took his first breath, and
we never heard him cry
(Bereaved Parent, undated)
Figure 5.3 Territory size shows the proportion of all stillbirths over 28 weeks of gestation worldwide
that occurred there in 2000 (Worldmapper Map 259)