One quarter of all Dutch babies born at home

Percentage dropped from 28 in 1991

RIJSWIJK - One quarter of all live births in the Netherlands took place at home in 2010. The remainder of the 184,000 babies were born in hospital.

Data published by the Dutch statistics office also confirm that the number of home deliveries has been decreasing for years: the 25 percent of 2010 compared to 38 percent of 20 years ago. The statistics also confirm that the Netherlands still has one of the highest home birth rates in Europe.

At one percent, the Netherlands also has a high perinatal mortality rate compared to other European countries. The causes of the high rate of perinatal deaths are the subject of extensive research and may be linked to home birth, analysts suggest.