A dramatic increase in the number of births through Caesarean section has been registered between 1995 and last year, with a jump of 16 per cent.

Figures from the National Obstetrics Information System (NOIS) show that the percentage of Caesareans shot up from 15.9 per cent in 1995 to 32.3 per cent last year.

At 36.5 per cent of all deliveries, the 2006 Caesarean figure was even higher and a concern for midwives, who firmly believe that nature should be left to take its course unless problems crop up.

Mark Brincat, chairman of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department pointed out that obstetricians were dealing with an increasing number of high-risk pregnancies.

In fact, the NOIS figures show that 522 out of the 3,853 mothers who gave birth last year - 13.5 per cent - had some form of complication during pregnancy, up from 8.4 per cent in 2001.

In addition, 2.1 per cent of mothers who gave birth last year suffered from a type of diabetes, up from 1.68 per cent in 2001.

Moreover, the monitoring of babies prior to birth is also picking up problems.

"We deal with individuals and not percentages and we are not going to put a life - or quality of life - at risk to keep percentages down," Prof. Brincat stressed, adding that obstetricians felt that the numbers were levelling out.

Obstetricians were practising in a uniform way which was in accordance with the established norms in the main teaching hospitals, especially in the UK, he said.

Yet, figures from the UK Department of Health show that the rate of C-sections in Britain in 2005-2006 stood at 23.5 per cent - more than 10 per cent lower than local figures for the same period.

The figures go down drastically when it comes to Scandinavian countries - in 2006, 15.9 per cent of births in Norway, 16.3 per cent of those in Finland and 21 per cent of those in Denmark were by Caesarean section. But these have also gone up substantially over the years.

According to the New York Times, the rate of Caesareans in the US climbed from 20.7 per cent in 1996 to 30.3 per cent in 2005.

Veteran midwife Margaret Abela, the treasurer of the Midwives Association, underlined the importance of women being empowered to have more of a say in decisions about childbirth.

In an interview with this paper last year, Ms Abela said that many mothers were afraid to take a decision and leave everything in the hands of medical professionals. In northern Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries, women tend to participate much more in decisions and the induction rate is lower.

Contacted yesterday Ms Abela, who has worked in hospital - mostly as a midwife - for more than 40 years, said the figures of local Caesareans are considered high.

In fact, she continued, studies have shown that while a very low rate of Caesareans indicates a lack of facilities, rates over the 20 per cent mark are considered high.

The importance of normalising childbirth was highlighted during the International Confederation of Midwives congress, which took place in Glasgow earlier this month, she said.

Facts and figures

The 2007 report of the National Obstetric Information System shows that:

• 3,898 babies were born last year.

• The majority of mothers were between 25 and 34 years old. The youngest mother was 13 and the oldest 45.

• Twenty-three per cent of mothers were single and have not married.

• Just over half the mothers delivered their first baby.

• Six of last year's deliveries were home births but were later referred to hospital.

• More than half the babies born last year - 53 per cent - were boys.

• Some 55 per cent of babies were breast-fed only, while 13 per cent were fed breast and bottle milk.

• There have not been any maternal deaths since 2001, when there were two.

• The rate of foetal deaths - death before complete expulsion or extraction from the mother - has gone down from 6.2 out of every 1,000 in 1999 to 2.8 out of every 1,000 births last year.