La nascita in Lombardia dal 2005 al 2014. I dati del Certificato di Assistenza al Parto (CedAP)

Birth data from Italy’s Lombardy Region, 2005 to 2014 ►Characteristics of the population. With 92,900 births, the decrease in the number of births in the Lombardy Region, compared to previous years, continues. The birth rate dropped from 9.9 births per 1000 inhabitants in 2005 to 8.6 births in 2014. In 2014, mothers with foreign citizenship represented 29.8% of all mothers, compared to 23.2% in 2005. The average age of mothers at birth increased from 31.9 in 2005 to 32.6 in 2014. The majority of mothers was married in 2014, but the percentage of single mothers increased from 13.2% in 2005 to 30.4% in 2014. In 10 years the level of the mothers’ education increased from 34.5% to 43.0%, for the high school diploma, and from 16.5% to 31.0% for university degree. ►Pregnancy. The rate (9%) of the women who undergo less than 4 visits during pregnancy remains unchanged. In 2005, 4.7%, and in 2014, 2.8% of Italian women, and 17.9% and 12.8% of foreign women, respectively, undergo a first pregnancy visit after 12 weeks of gestation. 22.7% of women who received elementary school level education, or who did not receive any education, underwent their first visit after the 12th week of pregnancy, while for women with a higher level education, the percentage was 3.3%. ►Childbirth. The 59 public /birth facilities present in 2005 decreased to 57 in 2014 and covered 84% of births, two thirds of which occured in facilities with at least 1000 deliveries per year. The rate of preterm births in 2014 was 8% and in 2005 was 7.1%; of these, 14% occurred in birth facilities without NICUs in 2014 and 21.5% in 2005. In 2005, 28.8%, and in 2014, 27.0% of deliveries were caesarean, with large differences between the different local health units (18.5-37.8% in 2005 and 17.8-38.9% in 2014). ►