Who Gets a Cesarean (2025)
Nearly a third of U.S. births are cesareans, and the rate rises steeply with the mother's age and with twins and triplets.
Key findings
- Nearly one in three U.S. births was a cesarean in 2025: 32.5% of deliveries, or 1,173,311 C-sections.
- The rate climbs steeply with the mother's age, from 18.9% for mothers under 20 to 48.0% for mothers 40 and older.
- It climbs even faster with multiples: 31.1% of single births were cesarean, versus 74.1% of twins and 93.7% of triplets.
- Age and multiples compound, which is part of why the national cesarean rate has stayed near one-third even as guidelines push to lower it.
The cesarean section is the most common major surgery in the United States, and who receives one is far from random. This measures the C-section rate for every 2025 birth, by the mother's age and by how many babies she was carrying. The rate rises sharply with both. These are exact counts from the near-census of birth records.
Cesarean rate, 2025
Cesarean rate by mother's age
| Category | Cesarean rate |
|---|---|
| Under 20 | 18.9% |
| 20 to 24 | 24.5% |
| 25 to 29 | 29.6% |
| 30 to 34 | 34.1% |
| 35 to 39 | 40.1% |
| 40 and older | 48% |
By plurality
| Plurality | Cesarean rate | Deliveries |
|---|---|---|
| Single | 31.1% | 3,505,802 |
| Twin | 74.1% | 107,434 |
| Triplet | 93.7% | 2,251 |
Cesarean rate is cesarean deliveries divided by vaginal plus cesarean. Exact counts; no sampling margins of error.
Data Sources & Methodology
The figures on this page are computed directly from the source data below. Narrative text accompanies the figures but never generates them.
CDC/NCHS Natality (Births) Public Use File
- Vintage:
- 2025
- Access:
- BigQuery
- Cadence:
- annual
A near-census of U.S. births for the year, drawn from birth certificates. Each row is one birth, carrying the age, education, race and Hispanic origin, and marital status of the mother; prenatal care, pre-pregnancy BMI, and smoking; the delivery method, attendant, birth place, and payer; and the sex, birth weight, gestational age, plurality, and Apgar score of the infant. It supports analysis of who is being born and how, by maternal characteristics.
Every U.S. birth is registered on a birth certificate, which NCHS compiles into an annual public-use micro-file. Each record describes one birth and its mother.
The file covers essentially all registered births in the data year, not a probability sample. Statistics are exact counts; there are no sampling weights and no sampling margins of error.
To protect confidentiality, the public-use file omits state and county. Analyses here are national and by maternal and infant characteristics; state-level figures require CDC WONDER or the restricted-use file.
Gestational age uses the obstetric estimate (combined gestation); birth weight is in grams; delivery method distinguishes vaginal from cesarean; some reported items (education, payer, smoking) carry reporting flags for areas that had not adopted the 2003 certificate revision.
- No state or county geography in the public-use file.
- A few items (for example payer and smoking) were not reported by every area in early revision years; reporting flags identify coverage.
- The final annual file lags roughly a year; provisional counts via CDC WONDER are more timely but less detailed.
- Birth-certificate data depend on accurate completion by hospitals and reporting areas.
How these figures were produced
- Estimate type:
- Administrative near-census (exact counts)
- Weighting:
- None (not a weighted sample)
Suggested citation
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 2025 Natality Public Use File. Analysis by Matt George, itsmattgeorge.com. Retrieved 2026-10-24.