The boom in unnecessary caesarean surgeries is jeopardizing women's health.

High caesarean birth rates present an issue of international public health concern. We explore the prevalence and sociodemographic maternal factors associated with cesarean-section births among 272 mothers with children under 5 years old in an urban community of central India. In this population-based, cross-sectional study, we learned that the prevalence of cesarean section was unacceptably high and significantly higher in those deliveries that were either preterm/ post-term, amongst mothers who had delivered at a private hospital, and among mothers with higher socioeconomic status. A third of the mothers reported lumbar back pain and almost 90% felt that the expenditure for cesarean sections is not reasonable.