The global prevalence of low birthweight declined at a slow pace from 2000 (17.5 percent) to 2015 (14.6 percent) (Figure 18). The regional trend seems to have followed the same slow pattern, with a prevalence of about half the world average but with a marginal change, from 7 percent in 2012 to 6.9 percent in 2015. From 2012 to 2015, the prevalence of low birthweight remained stable in CIS Europe and Ukraine (from 5.8 percent to 5.7 percent), EFTA countries (from 5.7 percent to 5.6 percent), the EU27 and the United Kingdom (7 percent in both years) and the Western Balkans (from 4.9 percent to 5 percent). It increased in the Caucasus (6.7 percent to 7.3 percent).
Figure 19 shows a fuller picture of the differences in the trends and levels among ECA countries. About half of the 49 ECA countries with data available have not reduced their prevalence of low birthweight. Among the countries that have reduced their prevalence of low birthweight, the largest improvement took place in Sweden, where the prevalence decreased by 2.1 percentage points. There was also some progress in Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Türkiye.