Table 1. Population characteristics by country of births of a single child at ≥37 weeks’ gestation in 2013.
| Characteristics | FIN | SWE | NOR | DNK | ISL | IRL | ENG | NLD | BEL | HESSE | MLT | USA | CHL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parity, % | |||||||||||||
| Nulliparous women | 40.4 | 43.8 | 41.6 | 46.4 | 39.6 | 37.9 | 39.9 | 44.7 | 43.2 | 50.0 | 50.9 | 39.8 | 44.0 |
| Multiparous women | 59.6 | 56.2 | 58.4 | 53.6 | 60.4 | 62.1 | 60.1 | 55.3 | 56.9 | 50.0 | 49.1 | 60.2 | 56.0 |
| Missing, % | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.12 | 0.0 | 0.03 | 21.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Total n | 5,431 | 10,457 | 54,951 | 50,692 | 3,987 | 62,592 | 410,366 | 152,644 | 112,907 | 44,722 | 3,781 | 3,500,397 | 173,388 |
| Maternal age, % | |||||||||||||
| <20 years | 2.0 | 14.8* | 1.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 4.8 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 7.1 | 14.2 |
| 20–24 years | 14.7 | 13.9 | 11.3 | 17.1 | 9.6 | 18.8 | 10.0 | 13.1 | 11.6 | 13.2 | 23.0 | 24.6 | |
| 25–29 years | 30.5 | 31.2 | 32.2 | 31.1 | 30.6 | 20.7 | 28.7 | 30.8 | 34.4 | 26.9 | 30.5 | 28.8 | 24.0 |
| 30–34 years | 33.2 | 33.6 | 33.5 | 35.2 | 30.6 | 36.9 | 28.9 | 37.6 | 33.7 | 34.9 | 35.7 | 26.4 | 21.2 |
| 35–39 years | 16.3 | 20.4* | 15.8 | 17.5 | 15.8 | 25.3 | 14.8 | 17.2 | 13.9 | 20.1 | 14.5 | 12.0 | 12.3 |
| ≥40 years | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 5.4 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 4.7 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 3.7 | |
| Missing, % | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.01 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | <0.01 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Maternal body mass index, % | |||||||||||||
| <18.5 kg/m2 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 3.0 | - | - | - | 5.4 | 3.7 | 2.8 | 3.9 | - |
| 18.5–24.9 kg/m2 | 61.0 | 56.8 | 61.1 | 62.0 | 55.5 | - | - | - | 60.1 | 58.7 | 58.8 | 47.3 | - |
| 25.0–29.9 kg/m2 | 22.3 | 24.5 | 22.3 | 21.1 | 23.7 | - | - | - | 22.2 | 23.5 | 23.8 | 25.4 | - |
| 30.0–34.9 kg/m2 | 8.8 | 12.3* | 8.6 | 8.3 | 11.2 | - | - | - | 8.6 | 9.0 | 9.5 | 13.1 | - |
| 35.0–39.9 kg/m2 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 4.3 | - | - | - | 2.7 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 6.2 | - | |
| ≥40.0 kg/m2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2.4 | - | - | - | 0.9 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 4.2 | - | |
| Missing, % | 1.3 | 3.7 | 36.1 | 1.2 | 19.3 | 5.4 | 8.0 | 22.9 | 13.5 | ||||
| Gestational weight gain, mean (IQR), in kilograms | - | 10.6 | 14.1 | - | 14.4 | - | - | - | 12.5 | 13.7 | 14.5 | 13.7 | - |
| (7–15) | (10–18) | (11–18) | (9–16) | (10–17) | (11–18) | (10–18) | |||||||
| Missing, % | - | 71.5 | 30.6 | 7.6 | 13.9 | 67.3 | 13.9 | ||||||
| Ethnicity, % | |||||||||||||
| Majority group | 90.3 | 73.0 | 72.9 | 81.8 | 88.2 | - | 79.6 | 75.1 | 78.9 | 79.2 | 86.5 | 76.5$ | - |
| Minorities | 9.7 | 27.0 | 27.1 | 18.2 | 11.8 | - | 20.4 | 24.9 | 21.1 | 20.8 | 13.5 | 23.5 | - |
| Missing, % | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 7.2 | 0.8 | 8.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | ||
| Non-Hispanic: | |||||||||||||
| White | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 57.9 | - |
| Black | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 14.6 | - |
| American Indian or Alaskan Native | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | - |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.6 | - |
| Hispanic | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 19.8 | - |
| Missing, % | 0.0 | ||||||||||||
| Education, % | |||||||||||||
| High | 45.2 | 52.3 | - | 43.7 | - | - | - | - | 45.7 | - | 34.1 | 38.0 | 30.5 |
| Medium | 42.5 | 38.6 | - | 40.3 | - | - | - | - | 37.4 | - | 63.1 | 46.2 | 57.9 |
| Low | 14.2 | 9.1 | - | 16.6 | - | - | - | - | 16.8 | - | 2.8 | 15.8 | 11.6 |
| Missing, % | 12.0 | 8.7 | 10.8 | 3.9 | 10.5 | 0.01 | |||||||
| Socioeconomic status, % | |||||||||||||
| High | 19.2 | - | - | - | - | - | 35.0 | 21.2 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Medium | 37.9 | - | - | - | - | - | 45.6 | 45.4 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Low | 16.7 | - | - | - | - | - | 19.4 | 33.4 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Missing, % | 26.2 | 1.6 | 3.5 |
*SWE: the age categories <20 years/20–24 years and 35–39 years/≥40 years and the body mass index categories of >30 kg/m2 are taken together in the Swedish data.
$USA: the majority group includes both non-Hispanic white women and Hispanic white women.
Abbreviations: BEL, Belgium; CHL, Chile; DNK, Denmark; ENG, England; FIN, Finland; HESSE, the state of Hesse (Germany); IRL, Ireland; ISL, Iceland; MLT, Malta; NLD, the Netherlands; NOR, Norway; SWE, Sweden; USA, United States of America