An account is given of morphological issues relating to placental insufficiency. Variable manifestations of placental insufficiency in foetuses and newborns are described in some detail. Reference is made to morphological clues useful in diagnosing causes of placental insufficiency. It proved to be particularly difficult to find quantitatively recordable parameters for such diagnosis, comparable to morphological indicators resulting from various placental measurements or from determination of exchange area and thickness measurement of placental basal membranes. Most of these quantitative methods, after all, would not even be applicable to routine examination. All the other diagnostic criteria of placental insufficiency are part of obstetrics (placental hormone production, measurement of uterus circulation and of intervillous space). In a more specialized section of this paper, reference is made to various pathologico-anatomic patterns of placental disorders and their specific relevance to placental insufficiency. Circulatory disorders (maternal side), placental inflammation, impaired maturation and obliterative endarteriitis were the most common findings in this order.