20 November 2023
Nikita Mahendra
[FYI request #24485 email]
Tēnā koe Nikita,
Your request for Official information, reference: HNZ00031583
Thank you for your email on 20 October 2023, asking for the following under the Of icial
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“Could you please provide the stats on spontaneous miscarriages/fetal deaths for the last 6
years outlined as numbers in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023?”
Please note the following definitions used by Te Whatu Ora. A miscarriage is the death of a fetus
where the birthweight is less than 400g and the gestation is less than 20 weeks. A fetal death or
stil birth is the death of a fetus where the birthweight is 400g or more, or the fetus has 20 weeks or
more gestation.
Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand does not hold complete information about the number of
spontaneous miscarriages in New Zealand. We receive records from hospitals when someone is
admitted and requires treatment for a miscarriage. However, many people do not require hospital-
level care for a miscarriage. This means the information we could provide about miscarriages
would not be complete. Therefore, this part of your request is refused under section 18(g) of the
Act, as the information you have requested is not held by Te Whatu Ora and we have no grounds
to believe that the information is held by other departments or Ministers of the Crown or
organisation.
The estimated number of fetal deaths for each year between 2018 and 2021 is provided below,
from Te Whatu Ora’s mortality data collection. Data for the years 2022 and 2023 is not yet
available, as this data is not yet complete enough to release. Many stil births are not immediately
registered as deaths by the parents of the deceased.
Year Number of fetal
deaths
2018
414
2019
426
2020
434
2021
453
Data from 2019 onwards is provisional and has not undergone full quality assurance.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[Health New Zealand request email].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Te Whatu Ora may
proactively release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name
and contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Gaynor Bradfield
Group Manager, Business Support
Business Services – Data and Digital
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
