Place of birth
Place of birth refers to the setting that a baby was born in. For more information on place of birth, see Place of birth in Australia's mothers and babies.
The heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 in hospital, as well as the limits placed on the number of support people allowed during labour and delivery, were factors that contributed to mothers seeking out-of-hospital alternatives during 2020 and 2021 (Knox‐Kazimierczuk et al. 2023).
Internationally, the interest in birthing at home has substantially increased with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained high (Cheng et al. 2022; Verhoeven et al. 2022).
This is also the case for Australia, where a survey by the Australian College of Midwives (2020) found that about 30% of respondents reconsidered their care provider and/or birthing venue, with the major trend being towards a preference for home birth options.
Between 2015 and 2021, most births occurred in hospital (ranging from 96.3% to 97.5%), compared with birth centres (ranging from 2.4% to 3.7%) and home births (ranging from 0.2% to 0.5%).
Figure 15 presents data on place of birth.
Figure 15: Proportion of women who gave birth, by actual place of birth and state and territory of birth, 2015 to 2021
Line graph shows place of birth group by state and territory of birth between 2015 and 2021.
The National Perinatal Data Collection defines a home birth as one that is planned to take place at a home and is attended by a midwife or other medical professional.
Between 2015 and 2019, the proportion of women who gave birth at home remained stable across Australia (0.3% in 2015 and 2019). Modelling showed that there was no annual change. The observed proportion of women who gave birth at home was 0.5% in 2020 and 0.5% in 2021, which was higher than the predicted proportions based on the modelling (0.3% in 2020 and 0.3% in 2021). This equated to around 1,050 more women giving birth at home than predicted in 2020 and 2021 combined.
Data for modelling exclude 'Not stated' data and therefore may not match the proportions presented in the data visualisation above. For more information on modelling the trend over time, see Methods.
Australian College of Midwives (2020) Women’s experiences of maternity care at the height of COVID-19 pandemic, Australian College of Midwives, accessed 21 December 2023.
Cheng RJ, Fisher AC and Nicholson SC (2022) ‘Interest in home birth during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of google trends data’, J Midwifery Women’s Health, 67(4):427-434, doi:10.1111/jmwh.13341.
Knox-Kazimierczuk F, Trinh S, Odems D and Shockley-Smith M (2023) ‘Challenges and lessons learned birthing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review’, Health Sci Rep, 6(7):1387, doi:10.1002/hsr2.1387.
Verhoeven CJM, Boer J, Kok M, Mieuwenhuijze M, de Jonge A and Peters LL (2022) ‘More home births during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands’, Birth, 49(4):792-804, doi:10.1111/birt.12646.
Western Australian Department of Health (2022) COVID-19 in pregnancy and birth, Western Australian Department of Health, Western Australian Government website, accessed 28 November 2023.