Unmarried mothers up two per cent

The number of unmarried mothers in the third quarter of 2003 increased by two per cent compared to the same quarter the previous year, according to the latest statistics published by the National Obstetric Information System.

In the third quarter of 2003, 15 per cent of all deliveries occurred to mothers who were never married (single) while 82 per cent of deliveries occurred to mothers who were married once (married, widowed, separated). The remaining three per cent had no marital status specified.

There were a total of 1,063 deliveries registered in the Maltese islands for the third quarter of 2003, which resulted in a total of 1,070 births.

A comparison of these figures to the same period in 2002 shows that the number of deliveries and births increased by 70 and 63 respectively (deliveries: 993, births: 1,007 for the third quarter of 2002).

The difference between the number of deliveries and births is due to multiple births like twins and triplets.

In the third quarter of 2003, half of the infants were breast fed within 30 minutes of birth. Comparing such figures to the same quarter 2002 shows that the rate of breast fed babies increased by 11 per cent this quarter (third quarter 2002: 39 per cent breast fed, 61 per cent not breast fed).

In the third quarter of 2003, 70 per cent of births were delivered by vertex delivery, 26 per cent by emergency or elective Caesarean section and four per cent by assisted vaginal delivery (includes forceps, ventouse and breech).

When comparing the method of birth to last year's quarter, it can be seen that the vertex deliveries decreased by one per cent while the Caesarean section births increased by one per cent this quarter (third quarter 2002: vertex:71 per cent, C section: 25 per cent, assisted vaginal delivery: 4 per cent).