NHS Maternity Statistics, England, 2023-24

This section reports on the number of reported deliveries. A delivery is the term used in HES data to describe child birth and is the ending of a pregnancy by one or more babies leaving a woman's uterus by vaginal passage or caesarean.

Within this section we explore the reported number of deliveries by women’s age group, type of delivery at both the onset and end of labour, and the frequency that anaesthetics and analgesics were administered either before or during delivery.

Percentages in the following commentary, unless otherwise stated, are based on total ‘knowns’, e.g. the percentage of caesareans is based on all deliveries with a known method of delivery, excluding those with an unknown method of delivery.

There were 545,149 deliveries in NHS hospitals during 2023-24. This is a decrease of 0.4 per cent from 2022-23.

Over the past ten years the numbers of deliveries in NHS hospitals fluctuated but are now at their lowest reported level in this time.

When comparing deliveries by age group to a base year of 2013-14, deliveries for all age groups of women have declined, although by only 3 per cent for women aged 30 to 39 years, and by 4 per cent for women aged 40 and over, compared to 2013-14.

Deliveries amongst women aged under 20 have more than halved since 2013-14 with 12,622 deliveries in 2023-24, compared to 26,439 deliveries in 2013-14. 

Spontaneous method of onset is most common as a proportion of total deliveries but has decreased from 62 per cent in 2013-14 to 42 per cent in 2023-24.

Caesarean method of onset increased from 13 per cent to 25 per cent and induced method of onset from 25 per cent to 33 per cent in the period 2013-14 to 2023-24.