Low Birth Weight

Abstract

The normal newborn tends to weigh much less in developing countries compared with his counterpart in Western Europe. Thus, in Nigeria the average birth weight is reported as 3,090 g and in Gambia it is 2,835 g. In the same country there may be significant differences in birth weights in different regions depending upon the general standards of health and the socio-economic level of the community. Mothers from a higher social class who live in healthy surroundings and enjoy good health tend to produce heavier babies than those who come from a lower social class, have marginal nutrition and suffer chronic ill-health. In a comparison of birth weights between two social classes, it was found that the mean birth weight in social class I was 3,290 g as compared with 2,950 g in social class IV.²¹