New figures released this week by the Office of Health Economics has shown a huge rise in the number of Caesarean births and births to mothers over forty.
According to the report, one in four births in Britain are now by c-section which makes a rise of 50% over the past 12 years. Although some will automatically blame 'too posh to push' mothers, the OHE says that the rise is also due to the growing medicalisation of birth, doctors' fear of litigation and a rise in obese mothers.
The latest figures show that of the 722,500 babies born in 2005, more than 180,000 were delivered by c-section. To put this in perspective, Caesarean births in the Netherlands make up just 13.9% of all births.
The study also shows that the number of women aged over 40 and giving birth has doubled over the past ten years. Conversely, the number of under-20s giving birth has fallen. In 1995 11,910 women aged over 40 gave birth; by 2005 that figure had risen to 23,459.
February 27 2007
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