Sexual and reproductive health – Births and newborns

One fifth of deliveries result in caesarean section

In total, there were 43,883 children born in Finland in 2024. The mean age of parturients has been rising gradually. In 2024, the mean age of all parturients was 31.9 years, and the average age of primiparas was 30.3 years. The data is based on THL's perinatal statistics on parturients, deliveries and newborns.

Of all deliveries in 2024, 20.3% resulted in a caesarean section.  The share is greater than ever before in the statistics, which have been compiled since 1987.

The proportion of caesarean sections is higher among primiparas than parturients with prior deliveries. Based on the 2024 data, 25.1% of the deliveries of primiparas result in a caesarean section.

According to a European recommendation, the share of caesarean sections of total deliveries should not exceed 15–20% in the developed nations. Finland has crossed this limit for a few years now.

Birth rate remained low in 2024

According to THL’s Medical Birth Register, 43,883 children were born in Finland in 2024, which is 0.4% (175 children) more than in 2023. Some of the increase is explained by the fact that the year 2024 was a leap year.

Just over one third (36.2%) of the children in Finland were born in HUS hospitals in the Uusimaa region: at the Women’s Hospital and the Jorvi, Hyvinkää and Lohja Hospitals.

The number of births increased in nine hospitals in 2024:

• Women’s Hospital (+3.6%)
• Jorvi Hospital (+ 5.2%)
• Turku University Hospital (+ 4.3%)
• Kuopio University Hospital (+ 1.1%)
• Oulu University Hospital (+ 1.9%)
• Tampere University Hospital (+ 5.2%)
• Central Finland Central Hospital (+ 2.1%)
• Lapland Central Hospital (+ 2.2%)
• Päijät-Häme Central Hospital (+ 4.7%)
• Hyvinkää Hospital (+7.8%).

In 2024, there were 23 maternity hospitals in Finland. Ten of the hospitals had fewer than one thousand deliveries in 2024, which is the limit for having a delivery unit set by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in 2015.

The number of maternity hospitals in 2025 is 21, as the delivery unit of Lohja Hospital was closed in November 2024, and the delivery unit of Länsi-Pohja Central Hospital was closed at the end of 2024.

About the data in more detail

• Read the entire statistical report (Julkari)
• Indicator data in Sotkanet

Background information

• Statistical quality report
• Privacy notice (in Finnish)
• Data description (Data resources catalogue)
• Instructions for submitting data (in Finnish)

Source

Perinatal statistics – parturients, deliveries and newborns 2024
Statistical Report 48/2025, 6.10.2025.
Official Statistics of Finland, Perinatal statistics. THL.

Description of the statistics

The statistics contain data on parturients, deliveries and newborns. Key indicators include the number, age, body mass index and delivery method of parturients. The statistics also provide data on the delivery procedures, the weight of newborns and perinatal mortality.

Data on all births have been collected in the Medical Birth Register since 1987. Statistical information is presented as data and percentages at the level of the entire country and welfare service counties. In addition, the total number of parturients is presented by hospital.

Update schedule

The final statistics are published annually in the autumn, with preliminary data provided in early summer.

The more exact publication time can be found in the publication calendar.

Publication calendar for statistics