Live birth (human)
In human reproduction, a live birth occurs when a fetus, whatever its gestational age, exits the maternal body and subsequently shows any sign of life, such as voluntary movement, heartbeat, or pulsation of the umbilical cord, for however brief a time and regardless of whether the umbilical cord or placenta are intact.
This definition of the term "live birth" was created by the World Health Organization in 1950 and is chiefly used for public health and statistical purposes. Whether the birth is vaginal or by Caesarean section, and whether the neonate is ultimately viable, is not relevant to this statistical definition. However, the term "live birth" was in common use long before 1950.
In the United States, the term "born alive" is defined by federal statute known as the born alive rule. Live births are recorded on a U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth, also known as a birth certificate. The United States recorded 3.95 million live births in 2016.
Some women have chosen to release online videos of the live births of their infants. There is one case report of a woman having a live birth derived from a frozen embryo obtained before she began cancer treatment.
Not all pregnancies result in live births. A woman may choose to end her pregnancy by abortion. Miscarriage, also known as spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the natural death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Some use the cutoff of 20 weeks of gestation, after which fetal death is known as a stillbirth. The death of the fetus or neonate at the end of the pregnancy, during labour and delivery, or just after birth is counted as perinatal mortality.
