In China 46 percent of babies are delivered by cesarean section, a much higher rate than the 15 percent recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Not only does this place China as the world’s No. 1 country for C-section births, Beijing even surpassed this rank last year with 51 percent of expectant mothers opting for cesarean deliveries.
Zhao Tianwei, director of Mary’s Hospital for Women and Infants and an expert in cesarean techniques, told the Beijing News that it’s difficult for Beijing to lower its cesarean percentage. “Unlike other regions, Beijing has big hospitals to which pregnant women with complications are transferred. It is thus hard for its cesarean percentage to decrease.”
Netizens offered a more mercenary reason for the high percentage.
“A vaginal delivery costs US$92, while a cesarean delivery costs 10 times that. Which do you think a doctor will recommend?” a person from Taiyuan City, Shanxi province asked in an online post.
