In Australia in 2005, the average rate of episiotomy was 15%. The rate of women who had no tears or small tears that may not require stitches was on average about 55%.
On a worldwide level, Australia compares quite well when it comes to performing episiotomies, considering that the episiotomy rate in the United States is currently around 35%. In some Latin American countries and also Taiwan, it is accepted practise to do an episiotomy on all first time mothers, here the rates are close to 90%. China, Spain, South Africa and Turkey also report extremely high episiotomy rates ranging from 60% to almost 90%. Whereas Sweden's rate is a low 9.7%.
NSW health department actually publishes the individual statistics of every maternity hospital in the state. Episiotomy rates can vary from 3% to 43% depending on the hospital.
If you wish to look at the actual rates of interventions, including Episiotomy, in every NSW maternity hospital for 2005 you can click on the link below.
NSW Mothers and Babies 2005
The following are the rates for episiotomies and tears that required stitches as well as the rates for no stitches (or only a few stitiches for a small tear) in each Australian state for 2005. The Australian Mothers and Babies reports can be viewed here:
Australia's Mothers and Babies Reports