The Jamaican Perinatal Morbidity and Mortality Survey was conducted between September 1986 and August 1987. A total of 10310 consecutive birth were identified and mothers interviewed in the first 2 months (main cohort study), 1405 neonatal admissions were evaluated over a 6-month period (morbidity study), and 1855 perinatal deaths and 73 late neonatal deaths identified over 12 months (mortality study - 55 por ciento of the deaths were given postmortem examinations. The perinatal mortality rate for the cohort study was 38.1 por ciento per 1000 births. This was 36.6 percent higher than the 1982 estimate of 27.9/1000 based on deliveries at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, a specialist maternity institution which has at least 13 000 deliveries per annum