Transition from home delivery to the maternity ward (Spain)

Transition from home delivery to the maternity ward (Spain)
1998. Women born at home with a traditional midwife. Quintanilla de Somoza, León (Spain)  © AEEH

Transition from home delivery to the maternity ward (Spain)

At the beginning of the 20th century in Spain, as in the rest of Europe, deliveries were at home, usually attended by traditional midwives who were gradually replaced by rural doctors and professional nurses. Delivery in maternity hospitals increased from the 50s onwards, reaching 100% in 1980 in large cities, and the same figure 12 years later in the countryside,

Even in1987 16% of Spanish women gave birth at home, though there were big differences between the rural world and the cities, and among autonomous communities. For example, in 1980 half of the deliveries in Galicia were at home, compared with 0.8% in Madrid or 12% in Catalonia.

As from 1992 delivery in maternity hospitals becomes the norm in Spain and the differences between the rural and urban world and communities disappears.