Live Birth in Spanish | The Term Hospitals Use

The standard medical Spanish term is “nacido vivo,” and you’ll also see “nacimiento vivo” when the text is counting births or defining rates.

If you’re translating a medical record, filling out registry paperwork, or writing a report, the phrase “live birth” can’t be treated like casual English. It’s a formal label with a strict meaning. In Spanish, the cleanest match depends on what the sentence is doing: labeling a baby, naming an event, or describing a document.

This page gives you the Spanish terms that fit each context, the phrases that show up on certificates, and copy-ready lines you can paste into forms without sounding stiff or off.

What “Live Birth” Means In Health Records

In clinical notes and vital statistics, “live birth” is a classification at the moment of delivery. It does not mean the baby later thrives, and it does not describe long-term outcome. It marks that, after separation from the pregnant person, there were signs of life such as breathing or a heartbeat.

That distinction shapes real paperwork. A form may ask for a count of live births in a period, or it may label a specific infant as live-born. Those are not the same sentence in Spanish, so the translation shouldn’t be the same either.

Live Birth in Spanish For Hospital Paperwork

Spanish uses two core options. Both are correct, but they fit different jobs on the page.

• Nacido vivo is the usual choice when the text labels the baby as “live-born.” You’ll see it on hospital documents and registry forms.
• Nacimiento vivo is a natural choice when the text names the event as a “live birth,” especially in counts, rates, and indicator definitions.

If you’re stuck and the text is about one baby, nacido vivo is often the safer default. If the text is clearly about totals and rates, nacimiento vivo often reads better.

Why “Nacido Vivo” Works So Often

Medical Spanish leans toward direct labels. Where English might say “live-born infant,” Spanish often uses a label that centers the status: nacido vivo. On many forms, it’s used as a checkbox term, a line item, or a short descriptor in a chart.

If you want a dictionary anchor for the base word, the RAE entry for “nacido” helps you confirm standard usage in Spanish.

When “Nacimiento Vivo” Reads Cleaner

Public health writing frequently tracks counts and ratios. Spanish often prefers the event noun nacimiento in those contexts. You’ll see forms like tasa de nacimientos vivos or nacimientos vivos registrados, depending on the dataset and country style.

When you’re translating a statistical indicator, pick the form that matches the indicator language and keep it consistent across the page.

Choosing The Right Term In One Minute

Before you commit to a translation, run two quick checks:

1. Baby label or event count? A label points to nacido vivo. A count or rate often points to nacimiento vivo or nacimientos vivos.
2. Fixed document name? If a ministry or registry uses a set title, match that title. Don’t invent a new one that only sounds right.

Those two checks prevent most of the mix-ups that later cause delays with forms and official records.

Common Spanish Translations By Context

Here’s a practical map you can use for chart notes, registry text, and formal writing. Treat it like a menu. Pick the line that matches the job your sentence needs to do.

English Context	Spanish Term	Notes For Natural Use
Label for a baby (live-born)	nacido vivo	Common on medical and registry forms as a status label.
Event being counted	nacimiento vivo	Fits counts, rates, and formal indicator wording.
Live births (plural) in a period	nacimientos vivos	Natural plural for totals in reports.
Number of live births	número de nacidos vivos	Common in datasets; also appears as total de nacidos vivos.
Born alive (narrative note)	nació vivo/a	Reads well in story-style clinical notes and summaries.
Live-born infant	recién nacido nacido vivo / recién nacido vivo	Both show up; pick the style that matches the document.
Per 1,000 live births	por 1.000 nacidos vivos	Typical phrasing for rates. Watch the number format.
Certificate of live birth	certificado de nacido vivo	Used widely in Latin American civil registry workflows.
Registration of a live birth	registro / inscripción del nacimiento	Country wording varies; match the local registry phrase.

How The Term Shows Up On Certificates And Registries

Real forms often use fixed wording. That’s why a literal translation can look fine yet still be wrong for official paperwork. One common document name is “certificate of live birth,” often rendered as certificado de nacido vivo.

Mexico’s federal health portal explains the Certificado Electrónico de Nacimiento (CEN) and its role in documenting and registering a birth. If you’re translating a title on Mexican paperwork, matching the official naming is safer than translating from scratch.

If you need cross-country registry vocabulary, the Inter-American Development Bank glossary includes an entry that defines certificado de nacido vivo as a document issued by the professional (or person) who attended the delivery, used to certify that a child was born. The glossary for civil registries and identification is handy when you want neutral wording that isn’t tied to one country’s slang.

Birth Certificate Versus Certificate Of Live Birth

These get mixed up all the time. A “birth certificate” is the civil registry record that proves the birth was registered. A “certificate of live birth” is often created by the facility or clinician and is used to support the registration process. Some systems treat it as a medical document. Others merge steps in one workflow.

If your text refers to the hospital or facility paper, certificado de nacido vivo is often closer than certificado de nacimiento. If it refers to the registry record, many places use acta de nacimiento or partida de nacimiento. Country usage matters, so match the form’s own wording when you can see it.

Using The Formal Definition In Spanish Reports

Sometimes you’re not only translating a label. You’re writing a report that needs the formal statistical definition. In that case, it helps to anchor your translation to an official source and mirror its structure.

The United Nations Statistics Division publishes a clear definition used in vital statistics systems. It describes a live birth as expulsion or extraction that results in signs of life after separation, regardless of pregnancy duration. When you need that formal framing, linking your wording to the UN definition keeps your report aligned with widely used statistical standards. See UN natality methods: live birth definition for the full wording and related terms like fetal death.

In Spanish, that kind of definition usually reads cleanest with nacimiento vivo as the head term, since it’s defining the event classification. If you’re defining the label used in a dataset column called “live-born,” nacido vivo can still be right. Let the dataset structure guide you.

Related Terms That Can’t Be Swapped

“Live birth” sits in a tight cluster of terms. If you switch one, you can change the meaning of a whole sentence. This matters most in legal, benefits, immigration, and official statistics contexts.

Stillbirth And Fetal Death

English sources vary between “stillbirth” and “fetal death.” Spanish often uses muerte fetal in technical writing. You may also see mortinato in some contexts. If you’re translating a dataset or a form, follow the glossary used by that system so you don’t blur categories.

Miscarriage And Spontaneous Abortion

Clinical Spanish commonly uses aborto espontáneo for miscarriage. Patient-facing Spanish may use pérdida del embarazo in softer wording. Pick the register that matches your audience and the document type.

Neonatal Death And Infant Death

These are outcomes after a live birth. They don’t replace the live-birth classification. Spanish commonly uses muerte neonatal and mortalidad infantil in public health writing. If your sentence includes both, keep timing clear so it doesn’t sound like the baby wasn’t live-born.

Grammar Details That Keep Your Spanish Clean

Most awkward translations come from small grammar slips. Fixing them makes the text look like it came from a native speaker, not a machine.

Gender And Agreement

If you write a full sentence like “born alive,” you may need gender agreement: nació vivo (male) or nació viva (female). If you don’t know gender, you can keep it neutral by using a noun label like nacido vivo on a form line, or by rewriting the sentence around el recién nacido (grammatically masculine as a general category in Spanish, depending on style).

Accent And Punctuation In Numbers

Rates often use “por 1.000” in Spanish formatting. English may write “per 1,000.” Match the number style of the document you’re translating. If it’s a Spanish-language report, “1.000” is common. If it’s a bilingual form, keep consistency with the form’s own formatting.

Avoiding The “Vivo” Trap

Writing only vivo can read like “alive right now.” That’s not the same as a live-birth classification. Pair it with nacido or use nacimiento vivo so the meaning stays tied to the birth event and record classification.

Reference Table For Forms And Reports

This table gives common English lines with Spanish versions that read natural in official writing. Use it for copy-checking when you’re polishing a translation or filling out a form.

English Phrase	Spanish Phrase	Where You’ll See It
Live birth	nacimiento vivo	Reports, statistics, definition sections
Live-born	nacido vivo	Medical labels, certificate titles
Born alive	nació vivo/a	Narrative notes, discharge summaries
Certificate of live birth	certificado de nacido vivo	Hospital or registry paperwork
Number of live births	número de nacidos vivos	Indicators and tables
Per 1,000 live births	por 1.000 nacidos vivos	Rates in public health reports
Live birth registration	registro / inscripción del nacimiento	Civil registry instructions

Copy-Ready Lines You Can Paste Into Forms

When you’re filling in a box on a form, shorter is usually better. Here are options that fit common fields and read natural.

For A Medical Note

• Recién nacido: nacido vivo.
• El/la bebé nació vivo/a y fue evaluado/a al nacer.
• Producto de la gestación: nacido vivo.

For A Registry Or Statistics Line

• Total de nacidos vivos en el periodo: ____
• Tasa de nacimientos vivos: ____ por ____
• Definición aplicada a nacimientos vivos: según estándar de estadística vital.

Mistakes That Cause Delays On Paperwork

Most problems come from mixing the baby label with the event count, or translating a fixed title too literally.

Mixing Up The Baby Versus The Event

English flips between “live birth” and “live-born” casually. Spanish makes that difference feel more concrete. Use nacido vivo for the baby label and nacimiento vivo for the event or definition, unless the form uses a set label that you must match.

Replacing An Official Title With A New One

If a country’s registry system uses a specific document title, stick to it. A new translation might look reasonable, yet it may not match the form names used by agencies and hospitals. When you can, verify the wording on the issuing agency’s site and mirror it.

A Short Checklist Before You Submit A Translation

• Decide if the sentence labels the baby or counts the event.
• Match the document title used by the form’s issuing body.
• Keep the term consistent across the page: don’t flip between nacido vivo and nacimiento vivo without a clear reason.
• If your text needs a formal definition, anchor it to an official statistics source and cite it.

Once those pieces are set, the rest becomes straightforward. Your Spanish reads like it belongs on the document, and the meaning stays aligned with how registries and medical records use the term.