Of
Werner Bartens
How a child is born is not just a medical issue. Prejudice and ideology also play a role in the assessment. Almost a third of all children in Germany are now born by caesarean section. In 2020, caesarean section affected 29.7 percent of all births; In 2019 it was 29.6 percent. This means that the proportion of Section caesarea, as the caesarean section is called by doctors, has almost doubled in the past 30 years – in 1991 the rate was still 15.3 percent. According to the World Health Organization, caesarean sections account for 10 to 15 percent of births that are medically necessary. Because the difference between the necessary and actual number of caesarean sections is so great, the reasons and disadvantages of unnecessary caesarean sections have been discussed for years.