Scottish cities

Premature births (<37 weeks), Scottish cities
Premature birth levels have remained fairly stable in Scotland as a whole, although the rate increased slightly from 2009/10. In recent years Glasgow and Scotland's rate of premature births have been very similar. Dundee consistently had the highest rates from 2006/07-2018/19 and the rate of premature births has increased notably in last three periods reported.

Note

Pregnancy usually lasts 40 weeks. If a baby is born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy, they are premature (also known as preterm). The number of weeks into a pregnancy is also referred to as the “gestational age”. The figures given are for singleton births, i.e. not twins, triplets or other multiples.

Scottish Morbidity Records for maternities (SMR02) have been used here to calculate the proportion of babies born prematurely (<37 weeks). The data have been aggregated into rolling groups of three fiscal years to produce annual averages.