We reviewed the deliveries in a teaching hospital in a multiracial community over the period of one year (1988), and investigated the relationship between maternal height, ethnic origin, and the extremes of birth weight with the likelihood of emergency lower segment caesarean section (LSCS). After excluding patients with obvious indications for LSCS, 5,050 patients were entered in the study. Chi-square analysis showed that the risk of emergency LSCS is significantly higher in the Indians compared to Chinese and Malays, but does not differ significantly between the latter two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that birth weight of less than 2,500 g or greater than 3,500 g is the most significant association with emergency LSCS rate. Conditional logistic regression showed that, provided the individuals conformed to the characteristics of the cohort in this study, risk of emergency LSCS for a 150 cm (25th centile) tall Indian pregnant lady is almost twice that of a 158 cm (75th centile) tall non-Indian).