Birth Systems across the World: Variations in maternity policy and services across countries.

Abstract

Contemporary formalized birth systems vary greatly across the world, expressing underlying national or regional political, economic and cultural variations. The roots of the oldest of contemporary birth systems lie in the emergence of modern states and their often pronatalist population policies. 'Pronatalism' in social policy refers to measures intended to stimulate a higher birth rate in the interest of the nation. Maternity policies were among the first social policies that early welfare states launched in Northern Europe and North America under governments that wanted to improve children’s and mothers’ chances for survival and, more recently, increase the birth rate. Non-health measures included modest maternity benefits that lowered the cost of birth services and perhaps even compensation for lost income during the postpartum period. Most importantly from a contemporary perspective early maternity policies formalized maternity care service provision through regulation, state subsidies or compulsory insurance schemes.