Pregnancy
(asked on 17th February 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the body mass index of pregnant women in (a) England and (b) each region of England in the (i) most recent period for which data is available and (ii) (A) five and (B) ten years before the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The experimental Maternity Services Monthly Statistics Report for booking appointments and births that took place in England in November 2022 was published by NHS Digital on 23 February 2023.
The following table shows the body mass index (BMI) of pregnant women in November 2022.
BMI | Percentage of pregnant women |
BMI Normal | 36.1 |
BM Overweight | 28 |
BMI Obese | 21 |
BM Severely Obese | 3.9 |
BMI Underweight | 6.9 |
BMI Severely Underweight | 0.3 |
BMI Not Recorded | 3.8 |
The following table shows the percentage of pregnant women with normal BMI by region in November 2022.
Region | Percentage of pregnant women with normal BMI |
London | 40.2 |
South West | 37.9 |
North West | 36.1 |
East of England | 36.3 |
Midlands | 32.5 |
South East | 38.6 |
North East and Yorkshire | 31.9 |
The following table shows the BMI of pregnant women in November 2017.
BMI | Percentage of pregnant women |
BMI Normal | 40 |
BM Overweight | 23 |
BMI Obese | 18 |
BMI Underweight | 3 |
BMI Not Recorded | 16 |
The following table shows the percentage of pregnant women with normal BMI by region in November 2017.
Region | Percentage of pregnant women with normal BMI |
London | 49 |
Midlands and East of England | 36 |
North of England | 36 |
South of England | 44 |
This data was not available ten years ago.