DEFINITION OF LIVE BIRTH

This document contains excerpts from the 1985 Natality Technical Appendix.
The full version of this document can be found in Vital Statistics of the
United States, 1985 - Vol. I, Natality.

     Every product of conception that gives a sign of life after birth,
regardless of the length of pregnancy, is considered a live birth.  This
concept is included in the definition set forth by the World Health
Organization (1950, pp. 16-17).

     Live birth is the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a
     product of conception, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy,
     which, after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of
     life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or
     definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord
     has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is
     considered liveborn.

     This definition distinguishes in precise terms a live birth from a fetal
death (see section on fetal deaths in the Technical Appendix of Volume II of
this report).  In the interest of comparable natality statistics, both the
Statistical Commission of the United Nations and the National Center for
Health Statistics have adopted this definition (National Office of Vital
Statistics, 1950, p. 6, Statistical Office of the United Nations, 1953, p. 6).





























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