One in four births in England is now emergency caesarean, BBC analysis shows
The shift marks a significant rise over the last five years, but experts say there is no single, clear explanation for the increase.
Prof Marian Knight, director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, which researches the care of women and babies in pregnancy and birth, says the rise represents a “total change in how women give birth” in England, and that it has not been replicated in other European countries.
