Caesarean section rate in North Rhine-Westphalia at its highest since 1991

Since 2020, the proportion of cesarean sections among deliveries in North Rhine-Westphalia hospitals has been increasing.

Last year it reached 34.4 percent, the highest level since statistics began in 1991, as IT.NRW reported.

Of the 147,134 women who gave birth in a clinic, 50,751 women did so by caesarean section.

As was the case a year before, the rate was once again highest in the Arnsberg administrative district (38.3 percent) and lowest in the Münster administrative district (32.8 percent).

The total number of hospital deliveries was reportedly at its lowest level since 2013.

A suction cup was used in more than 10,000 births last year, and forceps were used in almost 400 cases.

99.6 percent of all babies born in hospitals were born alive, but unfortunately 628 of a total of 149,834 newborns were not.