Volume 120, Issue Supplement s2, pages 1–2,September 2013
From an annual birth cohort of approximately 125 million globally, it is estimated that 20 million newborns (16%) are low birthweight, i.e. weigh <2500 g at birth.[1] The term ‘low birthweight’ encompasses prematurity, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), or both, which are conditions associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality and morbidity. The vast majority, more than 95%, of these births are in developing countries.[1] More than two-thirds (68%) of all low-birthweight infants are born with evidence of IUGR, the majority in south-central Asia, where more than one-quarter (27%) of all newborns are low birthweight.[2] Such IUGR infants mostly include those born at term (about 9.6% of all newborns weigh between 2000 and 2499 g at birth), but may also include preterm infants (crudely estimated at about 1.3% of infants born globally weighing between 1500 and 1999 g at birth), or those born with both prematurity and IUGR (Figure 1).[2]