BIRTHS: About one-third of all births are C-sections

THE MOST CURRENT STATISTICS (2014)

In the United States, about one-third of all live births today are via cesarean section, according to national data from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.  The most current statistic is:  32.2 percent in 2014, compared to what is described as the peak of 32.9 percent in 2009.  When the data are analyzed according to race/ethnicity, the group with the highest percentage of c-sections is non-Hispanic black women (35.6 percent in 2014).

Source: Martin, J.A., Hamilton, B.E., and Oserman, J.K. (2015, Sept.). Births in the United States, 2014. NCHS Data Brief, 216.  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db216.pdf Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org

TREND OVER PAST 25 YEARS: Going up

A separate report from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that in the ’90s, the c-section rate was much lower – holding at about 20 to 23 percent overall.

Source: Hamilton, B.E., Martin, J.A., Osterman, M.J.K., and others. (2015, Dec. 23). Births: Final data for 2014. National Vital Statistics Report. 64(12). http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_12.pdf   Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org