Long-term monitoring of health inequalities: March 2022 report

Annual update of the long-term monitoring of health inequalities headline indicators.


Low Birthweight

Trends in low birthweight

Over 2,400 low birthweight babies were born in Scotland in 2020.

The percentage of babies born with a low birthweight has remained fairly stable across the time series, ranging from 5.0 – 6.0%.

Table 11.1: Trends in low birthweight, 1996-2020
Year Number of low birthweight babies1 Target population size1 % of live singleton births
1996 3,066 55,861 5.5
1997 3,149 56,982 5.5
1998 3,108 55,152 5.6
1999 3,098 52,726 5.9
2000 2,906 51,057 5.7
2001 2,848 49,744 5.7
2002 2,910 48,950 5.9
2003 3,026 50,069 6.0
2004 3,030 51,807 5.8
2005 3,058 51,436 5.9
2006 2,939 52,467 5.6
2007 3,095 55,271 5.6
2008 3,134 56,925 5.5
2009 2,893 56,107 5.2
2010 2,816 56,123 5.0
2011 2,946 56,037 5.3
2012 2,775 55,369 5.0
2013 2,684 53,219 5.0
2014 2,773 54,398 5.1
2015 2,819 52,845 5.3
2016 2,762 52,424 5.3
2017 2,842 50,826 5.6
2018 2,690 49,254 5.5
2019 2,626 47,381 5.5
20202 2,429 45,456 5.3

1. This table includes records that could not be assigned an income employment decile and are therefore not included in the rest of the analysis.

2. 2020 data are provisional and may be updated in future reports.

Inequalities in low birthweight 2020

In 2020, 7.5% of live singleton births in the most deprived areas were recorded as low birthweight, this compared to 4.2% in the least deprived areas.

Figure 11.1 Low birthweight babies in Scotland by Income-Employment index 2020 (as percentage of live singleton births)

Trends in relative inequalities

Relative inequalities in low birthweight were higher in 2020 than those observed at the start of the time series (0.87 and 0.84 respectively). The RII values between 1997 and 2006 tended to be higher than those observed in the last decade.

Figure 11.2 Relative index of inequality (RII): Low birthweight babies in Scotland 1996-2020

Trends in absolute inequalities

The absolute gap in low birthweight between the most and least deprived areas in 2020 was 3.4 percentage points, the lowest it has been since 2013 (3.2 percentage points), and has reduced from 4.7 percentage points in 2019.

The narrowing and widening of the gap has tended to be driven by changes in the most deprived decile, as the least deprived decile has remained broadly stable since the beginning of the time series. However, the change between 2019 and 2020 was driven by both a reduction in the most deprived areas and an increase in the least deprived areas.

Figure 11.3 Absolute Gap: Low birthweight babies in Scotland 1996-2020 (as percentage of live singleton births)

Contact

Email: morag.shepherd@gov.scot

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