Zinc deficiency in neonates is a common finding in the developing world. The serum zinc level of neonates is affected by the gestational age at delivery, maternal serum zinc level, maternal serum albumin concentration, medications, conditions leading to decreased absorption of ingested zinc as well as increased loss from the body. Zinc deficiency in neonates has been suggested to be related to poor growth, hyperbilirubinemia, seizures, necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity and bronchopulmonary dysplasia by some investigators. This cross-sectional study was carried out between August 2017 and February 2018 to determine the cord blood serum zinc status and its determinants in neonates delivered at Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri. The purpose of this study was to determine the cord blood serum zinc levels of neonates delivered at FMC Owerri and also to establish the effect of birth weight, gender, socioeconomic status and maternal serum zinc level on cord serum zinc levels of neonates delivered at FMC Owerri. Three hundred and thirty mother-neonate pairs who met the inclusion criteria were consecutively recruited; one hundred and eighty (54.5%) of the neonates were males while 150(45.5%) were females. Serum zinc was assayed using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The normal range for serum zinc is 9.9-21.4µmol/l (equivalent to 64.7-139.9µg/dl) for cord blood and 7.6-10.7µmol/l (equivalent to 49.9-69.9µg/dl) for maternal blood. For the purpose of this study, cord serum zinc less than 64.7µg/dl and maternal serum zinc less than 49.9µg/dl were considered low. The cord serum zinc levels of neonates was normal in 51.5% of cases but low in 48.5% of cases. There was a significant positive association between cord blood serum zinc and maternal serum zinc however cord serum zinc level was not significantly associated with birth weight, length, occipitofrontal circumference, gender, socioeconomic status, dietary intake of red meat, dairy products and sea foods and some maternal obstetric factors.