Women are being failed as they are being denied choices,” said Elizabeth Duff, senior policy adviser at the National Childbirth Trust. Women aged 35 to 39 are the most likely to give birth at home; about 2.9% of mothers that age do so. There was also a small drop in the number of women having a multiple birth, from 16.1 to 15.9 births per 1,000. This decrease was greatest in women aged 30 and over, particularly those aged 45 and over where the proportion of women having multiple births decreased by 15%, said ONS statistician Nicola Haines. “Since 1993, women aged 45 and over have consistently had the highest proportion of multiple births, partly due to higher levels of assisted fertility treatments at these ages,” Haines said.

Source: The Guardian October 16, 2017 17:51 UTC