The national stillbirth rate declined 2% between 2023 and 2024, according to a recent CDC report, but health experts say the average rate of 5.41 fetal deaths per 1,000 remains too high.
In 2023, the fetal mortality rate was 5.53 fetal deaths at 20 or more weeks of gestation per 1,000 live births and fetal deaths. The 2% decline, from 5.53 to 5.41 per 1,000, was driven by a decrease in late fetal mortalities or stillbirths after 28 weeks of gestation.
The CDC recorded 19,756 stillbirths in the U.S. last year.
This figure is too high, according to Ashley Stoneburner, director of applied research and analytics at March of Dimes, an infant and maternal health nonprofit.
“Stillbirths affect just as many families as do infant deaths each year,” Ms. Stoneburner told CNN in a Dec. 3 report. “It’s a really large problem, and a lot of the risk factors that we see for infant mortality, especially very early infant deaths, are the same that we see for babies that are born still.”
The CDC report, which cited the National Vital Statistics System, analyzed data on race, ethnicity and state.
Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Black, American Indian and Alaska Native individuals experience a higher-than-average fetal mortality rate, while Asian, Hispanic and white individuals are below the national average.
Most states did not report statistically significant differences in fetal mortality rates between 2023 and 2024. The average stillbirth rate decreased 14% in Colorado, 16% in Utah and 21% in Mississippi — which has the highest rate at 7.8 per 1,000 — and increased 19% in New Jersey.
