Table 1. Social and demographic profile of the women who had a birth of a singleton in the two years preceding the survey in healthcare facilities and the corresponding rates of caesarean section (CS) (n = 1350).

		Distribution			CS rates
		Urban	Rural		Urban		Rural
		%	%	p	%	p	%	p
Place of delivery	Public healthcare sector	92.5	97.2	**	42.4	*	22.9
	Private healthcare sector	7.5	2.8		61.3		11.5
Antenatal care visits	3 or fewer	12.8	25.2	**	29.6	**	17.4	**
	4 to 7	38.9	50.9		34.8		22.9
	8 or more	48.3	23.9		55.0		27.4
Weight of the newborn	Less than 2.5 kg	3.9	4.6	**	50.0	*	35.7	**
	2.5 to 3.5 kg	78.6	85.1		41.1		21.1
	Over 3.5 kg	17.6	10.3		54.8		29.9
Size of the newborn	Average	76.1	79.8	**	39.9	**	22.7
	Smaller than average	8.2	9.7		51.5		19.8
	Larger than average	15.7	10.5		58.5		24.7
Maternal age at delivery	15–19	5.3	8.9	**	22.7	**	17.1	**
	20–34	84.6	83.1		43.0		22.1
	35–49	10.1	8.0		61.9		34.2
Parity	Multiparous	57.1	56.8		42.4		20.5	*
	Primiparous	42.9	43.2		45.5		25.2
Women’s education	Primary or less	9.9	14.3	**	31.7	**	23.1
	Secondary	51.1	66.6		38.7		21.5
	Tertiary	39.0	19.0		53.7		26.8
Wealth quintile	Poorest	3.4	20.6	**	21.4	**	20.8
	Poor	8.9	25.7		36.1		22.9
	Middle	14.7	24.2		31.1		23.9
	Rich	25.1	21.9		34.6		23.3
	Richest	48.0	7.6		55.3		21.1
Ethnicity	Kinh and Hoa	93.5	85.8	**	45.1	*	23.6
	Ethnic minorities	6.5	14.2		25.9		17.3
Region	North Central	20.2	22.0	**	51.2		26.2	*
	Mekong R. Delta	12.0	19.6		52.0		21.3
	Red River Delta	23.1	25.5		44.8		17.6
	Northern Midlands	9.2	14.3		33.3		26.9
	Central Highlands	5.5	6.9		26.1		15.4
	Southeast	29.9	11.6		42.7		28.4
Number of women		415	935		415		935

Abbreviations and signs: CS, cesarean section; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval;

**, p ≤ 0.05;

*, p ≤ 0.10

Data are from the 2014 Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)