Table 2.

Summary of pooled sample characteristics of the Demographic and Health Surveys data in sub-Saharan Africa

Caesarean section
	Overall (%)	Public healthcare (%)	Private healthcare (%)
	159,327	139,882	19,445
CS		7.9	12.3
Age (%)
15–24	31.5	7.1	9.1
25–34	46.4	8.0	12.8
35–49	22.1	8.7	15.3
Wealth (%)
Poorest	14.5	5.1	6.9
Poorer	17.5	5.8	7.5
Middle	19.7	6.6	8.2
Richer	23.0	7.9	9.8
Richest	25.3	12.5	17.6
Maternal’s education (%)
No education	27.5	5.3	7.7
Primary	37.0	7.3	9.2
Secondary+	35.5	10.8	15.4
Paternal’s education (%)
No education	25.8	5.1	6.7
Primary	30.1	6.9	8.2
Secondary+	44.1	9.6	13.7
Religion
Christianity	70.7	8.5	12.9
Islam	23.9	6.6	9.0
Others	5.4	6.4	7.7
Media access
0	23.3	5.7	6.4
1	31.1	6.6	8.8
2	30.2	8.7	11.7
3	15.3	12.7	20.7
Household head
Female	77.0	9.2	12.1
Male	23.0	7.5	12.9
Currently working
Yes	37.9	7.8	12.7
No	62.1	7.9	12.1
Decision making power
Low	30.7	6.6	8.9
Medium	36.9	8.8	12.3
High	32.4	9.7	15.9
Sex of child
Male	48.9	8.4	11.9
Female	51.1	7.3	12.7
Multiple birth
No	99.9	7.9	12.3
Yes	0.1	12.5	25.6
Large size at birth
Yes	60.6	7.1	11.9
No	39.4	8.6	11.1
Antenatal care
None	4.1	6.4	10.6
1 to 4 visits	49.5	7.5	10.2
5 to 8 visits	33.7	8.8	13.7
8 or more visits	12.7	11.5	16.0
Neighbourhood SES (%)
Tertile 1 (least disadvantaged)	38.8	10.9	14.6
Tertile 2	36.3	7.3	9.9
Tertile 3 (most disadvantaged)	24.9	4.6	7.1
Human Development Index (%)
Low HDI	27.1	5.5	9.7
Moderate HDI	41.2	8.1	10.1
High HDI	31.7	9.7	15.6