Rate of C-section births rose 9 percentage points in a year: BBS

The rate of Cesarean section deliveries has increased by more than nine percentage points in one year.

Data in the Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2023 of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), unveiled this morning, shows that 41.4 percent of all births in 2022 were through C-sections.

This C-section delivery increased to 50.7 percent in 2023, said Alamgir Hossen, project director of Sample Vital Registration System (SVRS), while presenting the report at BBS office.

"This is alarming and it calls for further study," he said.

The SVRS 2023 also shows that death of children under 5 years of age also increased. Thirty-one children per 1,000 of the age group died in 2022, and the number rose to rose to 33 per 1,000 in 2023.

Twenty-four children per 1,000 below the age of one died in 2022, and that rose to 27 per 1,000 in 2023.

There was also an increase in deaths of babies under one month old to 20 per 1,000 in 2023 from 16 per 1,000 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the life expectancy of people in Bangladesh stood at 73.3 years in 2023, which was 73.4 in 2022.

Alamgir, however, said this was not a reduction of life expectancy as it is statistically insignificant. "We will say it remains unchanged," he added.