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 ...
