Statistics from antenatal, birth, and child health records including smoking during pregnancy, breastfeeding and birthweights for children born in Wales in 2018.
This is not the latest release in the series: Maternity and birth statistics
Series information:
Main points
- There were 31,329 live births in Wales.
- 3.8% of live births were to mothers aged under 20, the lowest percentage on record.
- At least 73.1% of women received their initial antenatal assessment before the end of their 10th week of pregnancy.
- 24.1% of women had a mental health condition reported at their initial assessment.
- 28.0% of women were obese (BMI 30+) at their initial assessment.
- 17.9% of women were recorded as a smoker at initial assessment; 17.3% of these were not recorded as smokers at birth.
- 50.4% of labours started spontaneously while 33.5% were induced.
- 27.9% of births occurred via caesarean section, just under half of which were elective and just over half were emergencies.
- 5.6% of singleton births had low birthweight, the same percentage as in 2017.
- 61.6% of mothers breastfed at birth, the highest on record.
Reports
Maternity and birth statistics, 2018 , file type: PDF, file size: 3 MB
PDF
3 MB
If you need a more accessible version of this document please email digital@gov.wales. Please tell us the format you need. If you use assistive technology please tell us what this is.
Contact
Craig Thomas
Telephone: 0300 025 1646
Email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales
Rydym yn croesawu galwadau a gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg / We welcome calls and correspondence in Welsh.
Media
Telephone: 0300 025 8099
Rydym yn croesawu galwadau yn Gymraeg / We welcome calls in Welsh.