Nearly two-thirds of Korean women who gave birth last year did so via cesarean section, data shows.

According to data from the National Health Insurance Service, obtained and released Thursday by the ruling People Power Party Rep. Kim Mi-ae, the proportion of women undergoing surgical delivery stood at 64.2 percent last year.

The data highlights a consistent rise in C-section deliveries over the past five years, from 51.1 percent in 2019 to 61.6 percent in 2022.

The upward incline continued in the first half of this year, with C-sections accounting for 67 percent of births.

Vaginal births, which took up 49.9 percent of all births in 2019, fell to just 35.8 percent last year.

When looking at the case numbers, not the proportions, both surgical and vaginal births declined, as South Korea saw the total number of births shrink.

C-section delivery cases fell from 152,014 in 2019 to 145,519 last year, while vaginal births declined from 145,325 to 81,200 during the same period.

A cesarean section is performed when health care providers deem that a non-surgical birth poses serious health risks for either the mother or the baby.