Congenital anomalies may be associated with stillbirths, neonatal and post-neonatal deaths. In 2016, most babies (91%) with a congenital anomaly were live births and survived their first year. However, nearly 1 in 11 babies with an anomaly did not live past their first birthday. Around 6% of babies born with an anomaly were stillborn and 3% died in either the neonatal period (within 28 days after birth) or the post-neonatal period (after 28 days and within 1 year after birth).
The proportion of babies that survived their first year varied by the type of anomaly. A smaller proportion of babies with chromosomal or nervous system anomalies survived their first year (69% and 70% of babies with these anomalies, respectively), while nearly all babies with a genital organ anomaly survived their first year (98%).
The perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths and neonatal deaths) in babies with one or more congenital anomalies was 80.5 per 1,000 births compared with the overall perinatal mortality rate for all babies of 9.1 per 1,000 births in 2016 (AIHW 2019).
This following visualisation shows outcomes for babies born with a congenital anomaly by type of anomaly.