Switzerland sees fewer weekend births as planned deliveries rise

In Switzerland, the proportion of births by C-section has been increasing since 2019, reaching 34% in 2023. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

As caesarean sections and planned births increase, so does predictability of timing: in Swiss hospitals in 2023, 16% of babies were born on Fridays, compared to just 11% on Sundays.

Babies in Switzerland are most likely to be born heading into the weekend – in 2023, 16% arrived on a Friday, according to an analysis of 79,200 hospital births by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

Sunday was the day of the week with the fewest deliveries, at just 11%. On average, 237 babies were born each weekday, compared to 181 on weekend days. The difference is mainly due to medical practices which allow births to be scheduled, such as planned C-sections – 94% of which take place during the working week – and induced labour.

Of the 79,200 births recorded, 14,626 were primary C-sections (i.e. planned rather than performed as an emergency) and 21,342 were induced, the FSO noted in a report published this week. By contrast, birthing centres saw new arrivals spread more evenly across the week. The difference between the busiest day, Thursday, and the quietest, Wednesday, was less than 11%.

The overall proportion of births by C-section has been gradually increasing in Switzerland since 2019, reaching 34% in 2023. This puts Switzerland among the European countries with the highest rates, alongside Italy.

However, there are marked differences between regions. In canton Schaffhausen, caesareans account for 41% of births; this falls to under 30% in Thurgau and Appenzell Outer Rhodes, as well as in many French-speaking cantons. In Geneva, meanwhile, one in two births is induced, compared with under 22% in Graubünden.

Use of epidural anaesthesia is also on the rise: in 2014 it was used in 38% of births; by 2023, this had increased to 50%.

Translated from Italian using DeepL/amva/ts