Page last updated: 29-SEP-2009

Births & Babies

Key points

  • Babies born in Scotland: There were 56,821 births for year ending March 2008.
  • Mothers are getting older: A steady increase has been observed in the proportion of births to mothers aged 30-34, from 13% in 1976 to a peak of 30% in 2005.  Although this has fallen slightly to 27%, it is now the most common age to have a baby.  There has also been a steady rise in the proportion of births to women aged 35 and over, from 6% in 1976 to 20% in each of the last 4 years, and the number of births in this age group now exceeds that in those aged 20-24.
  • Smoking in pregnancy: The overall percentage of women who report smoking at the time of their first antenatal booking has decreased consistently from 29.0% in 1995 to a new low of 19.2% in 2008.  However, it should be noted that the percentage of 'unknowns' has risen from 5% in 1995 to 14.1% in 2008 and that this may include a proportion of smokers.
  • Caesarean section: In singleton births, the emergency caesarean section rate increased from 3.9% in 1976 to a peak of 15.4% in 2006, followed by a slight drop in the last 2 years to 14.7%.  The rate of elective* or planned caesarean sections has continued to rise from 4.7% in 1976 to 10.1% in 2008.  Together this resulted in an overall increase in caesarean section rates from 8.6% in 1976 to 24.7% in 2008. 
    [*An elective caesarean section refers to a caesarean section which has been planned in advance and in most cases will have been recommended for clinical reasons such as breech or multiple births or previous caesarean section.  It may also be the case that the woman will have chosen this method of delivery for non-clinical reasons.]  
  • Forceps deliveries: After falling from 13.5% in 1980 to 6.8% in 2001 the use of forceps in delivery has risen over the last 8 years and is now at 9.4%.
  • Premature babies: The percentage of pre-term (premature) singleton babies has risen from 5.2% in 1976 to 6.1% in 2008.
  • Deprivation: The most common age for starting a family in areas of low deprivation is 32, which is 13 years later than the most common age in areas of high deprivation.
  • Low birth-weight: For singleton births, a mother living in an area of high deprivation is twice as likely to have a low birthweight baby (under 2500g) compared to a mother living in an area of low deprivation.
  • Miscarriage: There is a general downward trend in the number of miscarriages, falling from 7508 in 1998 to 5723 in 2008.  However, it is likely that some, particularly early, miscarriages are either managed solely by General Practitioners or may not be recognised by the women and so are never referred to hospital.