Births in Scotland
Year ending 31 March 2025
Accredited official statistics
- Published
- 25 November 2025 (Latest release)
- Type
- Statistical report
- Author
- Public Health Scotland
About this release
This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) reports on pregnancy, childbirth and the early care of babies born in Scotland. The health of a pregnant woman and her baby are closely linked and are influenced by numerous factors during pregnancy, childbirth and the early period after birth.
Main points
In 2024/25:
- Almost a quarter (24.6%) of maternities (a pregnancy ending in a live or stillbirth) were to women living in the most deprived areas.
- Over a third (33.5%) of live singletons were born following induction of labour, with most inductions undertaken before 41 weeks gestation. However, there was considerable variation across treating NHS boards. The likelihood of being induced also increased with increasing levels of deprivation.
- Over a quarter (28.5%) and nearly a tenth (9.8%) of maternities were affected by obesity and diabetes respectively. Women from more deprived areas were more likely to experience obesity and diabetes than women from less deprived areas.
- The percentage of live singleton births which are caesarean births has been increasing over time and increased again to 43.5% in 2024/25. Elective (planned) caesareans accounted for 21.5% and emergency (unplanned) caesareans for 22%.
- Live singleton preterm birth rates have been increasing since 2011/12, with 6.8% recorded in 2024/25. The probability of being born preterm increased with increasing levels of deprivation.
- The proportion of babies born large for gestational age has been increasing over time whilst the proportion of babies born small for gestational age has been decreasing. There are now almost three times as many babies born large for gestational age as small for gestational age. Risk of being born small for gestational age increased with increasing levels of deprivation.
Background
The data presented are mainly obtained from the Scottish Morbidity Record 02 (SMR02). An SMR02 record is submitted by maternity hospitals to PHS whenever a woman is discharged from an episode of day case or inpatient maternity care. Comparison of SMR02 with the number of births registered by National Records of Scotland (NRS) confirms the high completeness of SMR02. This data source provides an additional richness of demographic and clinical information associated with the mother and baby which are not collected by NRS.
User consultation
The reproductive and maternal health analytical team seek your views on changing from a long-form publication (report with text commentary) to only a summary publication of main points and new findings, in future. All currently available data tables and the technical document will continue to be published along with the summary report. If you have any concerns or comments on these proposed changes, please email: phs.maternitystats@phs.scot
Further information
The next release of this publication will be November 2026.
General enquiries
If you have an enquiry relating to this publication, please contact Celina Davis at phs.maternitystats@phs.scot.
Media enquiries
If you have a media enquiry relating to this publication, please contact the Communications and Engagement team.
Requesting other formats and reporting issues
If you require publications or documents in other formats, please email phs.otherformats@phs.scot.
To report any issues with a publication, please email phs.generalpublications@phs.scot.
Older versions of this publication
Versions of this publication released before 16 March 2020 may be found on the Data and Intelligence, Health Protection Scotland or Improving Health websites.