Economic costs of stillbirth

Relatively little is known about the costs of stillbirth. In comparison a great deal is known about common chronic diseases and their costs to society – the value of health resources used, and the costs to individuals in terms of out of pocket fees. Not knowing these costs for families who experience stillbirth makes it difficult to demonstrate the efficiency of stillbirth prevention activities – the real savings that can be made by preventing stillbirth.

This project quantified the costs of stillbirth between 2012 and 2015, and the authors reported that cost to government was on average $3774 more per mother who had a stillbirth compared with mothers who had a live birth. The value of lost output was estimated to be $73.8 million (95% CI: 44.0 million-103.9 million). The estimated value of lost social welfare was estimated to be $18 billion.

Stillbirth has a sustained economic impact on society and families, which demonstrates the potential resource savings that could be generated from stillbirth prevention.

Publication

Callander EJ, Thomas J, Fox H, Ellwood D, Flenady V. What are the costs of stillbirth? Capturing the direct health care and macroeconomic costs in Australia. Birth. 2020;47(2):183-90.