The leader of the Socialist Party expressed that the occurrence of babies being born on the street is “an unprecedented scenario in our country,” yet the numbers presented by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) are accurate: since 2022, an average of 17 children have been born in public areas.
Claim: In 2022, 18 children were born in public areas, and in 2023, another 15
During the biweekly debate in the Assembly of the Republic on September 24, PSD parliamentary leader Hugo Soares stated that “in 2022, 18 children were born in public areas [and] in 2023, another 15 children were born in public areas” (https://canal.parlamento.pt/cid/8751/reuniao-plenaria, at 2:07:21).
These numbers were shared in response to Deputy José Luís Carneiro, the Socialist Party’s Secretary-General, who had previously stated that “never have so many children been born in Portuguese ambulances, and more seriously, there was even a mother who gave birth on the street, a scenario never seen in our country” (same link, at 44:58).
In response, Hugo Soares displayed two newspaper articles with the headlines: “Two girls born on the road on the way to the maternity” and “What happened during the birth in the middle of Lisbon’s street?”, without specifying the dates.
Facts: Data from the Ministry of Health and INEM confirm the number of births in public areas
Researching the headlines of the presented articles reveals they are from 2020, from Correio da Manhã (https://archive.ph/jSx5o) and Expresso (https://archive.ph/4eCUZ), thus not pertaining to the alleged cases of 2022 and 2023, a period during which José Luís Carneiro served as the Minister of Internal Administration.
Regarding the alleged births in public areas, although no high-profile cases were detected during those years, the numbers are correct. In response to Lusa Verifica, Deputy Hugo Soares clarified that “they are official data from the Ministry of Health and public because they were presented by the minister during the parliamentary hearing on September 17.”
Indeed, on that date, Minister Ana Paula Martins presented an assessment of the number of births occurring in pre-hospital contexts between 2022 and 2025, namely in ambulances, public areas, primary healthcare units, and at home (https://canal.parlamento.pt/cid/8712/audicao-da-ministra-da-saude, at 4:06:10).
According to this data, 25 births occurred in ambulances, 18 in public areas, and 126 at home in 2022, totaling 169 births in pre-hospital contexts. In the following year, 2023, there were 18 births in ambulances, 15 in public areas, and 140 at home, totaling 173 births in these contexts.
The numbers reveal that there has also been an increase in the number of births in ambulances over the last two years, with 28 in 2024 and 32 in 2025, while maintaining the number of births in public areas, with 17 and 18, respectively. This year there’s also been one birth in a primary healthcare unit.
Regarding home births, there were 144 in 2024 and 103 already this year, by mid-September, totaling 189 births in pre-hospital contexts in 2024, and 154 since the beginning of the year.
These numbers are confirmed by INEM, which notes that the data is up-to-date until September 14 and states that “births in pre-hospital environments have always occurred, with various reasons for their occurrence, such as the late call to 112, situations where the birth was imminent at the time of the call, among others.”
Evaluation Lusa Verifica: True
It is true that 18 births occurred in public areas in 2022 and another 15 in 2023, numbers similar to the last two years, with 17 in 2024 and 18 by mid-September this year.
