Fewer home births end up in the hospital

The number of women whose home-birth plans suddenly ended up in the hospital due to complications during child birth, decreased significantly over the past five years, according to an analysis Statistics Netherlands did for newspaper Trouw.

In the years 2014 and 2015 an average of 6.4 percent of women had to rush to the hospital due to complications. In 2010 and 2011 it was 13.0 percent. In absolute figures, the numbers fell from about 16 thousand to around 7,800 emergency trips to the hospital.

The number of home-births also decreased significantly during that time. In 2010 about 20 percent of pregnant women gave birth at home. In 2014 it was 13.3 percent.