Reading the level of a maternity unit
In France, maternity units have been classified into three levels since 1998, according to the care they can give the newborn on site. A level 1 unit has an obstetrics department: it suits pregnancies without particular risk, that is the great majority. Level 2a adds a neonatal unit (for babies who need monitoring or care without being in vital danger), level 2b neonatal intensive care, and level 3 neonatal resuscitation: high-risk pregnancies, expected extreme prematurity and complicated multiple pregnancies are directed there. The level says nothing about the quality of the welcome or the comfort: it says what the establishment can do if the baby is born too early or ill. A health professional may refer you to a higher level during pregnancy; the reverse also happens when all goes well. Other countries use comparable tiers (levels I to III or IV in the United States, for instance), even if the names differ.
The nearest, or the most suitable?
Distance matters: in France half of women give birth less than seventeen minutes from home, but in some rural or mountain areas the journey exceeds forty-five minutes, and the closure of small units over the last twenty years has lengthened it. The tool ranks as the crow flies; count the real travel time, at night and in bad weather, and work out the route in advance. The number of births a year is another marker: below three hundred, teams are small and on-site cover is not always guaranteed; above three thousand, the organisation is that of a large birth factory, with all that is reassuring and impersonal about it. In between, everything depends on the team — and nothing replaces a visit, often offered in the second trimester.
When to register, and what to ask
When you register with a maternity unit varies from country to country and from city to city: ask at the start of the pregnancy, especially in a big city. Useful questions: who will follow the pregnancy (midwife, obstetrician, both); the caesarean and epidural rates; the possibility of a less medicalised birth (birthing room, pool, free positions); a paediatrician on site at night; length of stay and support for going home; how the other parent is welcomed. The pregnancy pages and the law country by country complete these markers.
In France: in big cities you register in the first trimester, sometimes as soon as the test is positive; elsewhere the fourth month is enough.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my small local unit no longer appear?
For France, the list covers establishments with at least one bed and a level at 31 December 2024 that carried out at least one delivery in the year. A unit closed during the year, or turned into a perinatal centre (antenatal care without deliveries), no longer appears. If you spot an error, the contact page is there.
Are birth centres included?
No: in France, midwife-led birth centres attached to a maternity unit are not maternity units in the statistical sense. The partner unit does appear.
Is the distance shown the road distance?
No, it is the straight-line distance between the centre of your town and that of the unit’s municipality. The “directions” link opens a real route in your maps application.
And outside France?
The tool shows the hospitals OpenStreetMap records with a maternity service, then, failing that, the nearest hospitals. It is an aid, not an official directory: always confirm with the establishment.