Background: In the world's industrialized countries, most women give birth to their children in hospitals, a birthplace that has become the norm. In Sweden, hospital birth and home birth are the options available. About 0.1 percent of women in Sweden are planning a home delivery but the interest is about 10 times higher. In Sweden, there is no birth center available; which is a midwife's birth clinic where continuity and normal deliveries are in focus. The interest in delivery in a birth center among women in Sweden is about 27 percent.

Aim: The aim of this study is to describe factors affecting women's choice of birthplace.

Method: The method used in this paper is a general literature study, with a total of 17 articles from the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Holland, England, New Zealand and Australia.

Result: In the result it emerged that the different birthplaces had in part the same factors motivating the women. These factors were the attitude towards the childbirth process, access to birthplace choice, safety, environment, pain relief and intervention and influence. There were also unique themes for each birthplace. Home delivery was the birthplace that had the most unique factors, such as control and empowerment, the family's participation and attitudes in society and care. Unique for childbirth at a birth center was localization and continuity with the healthcare provider. The study found no unique factors for hospital birth. The factors for home birth and hospital birth were each other’s opposites, while childbirth at a birth center was something in between. Conclusion: The women in the present essay all had common factors that affect their choice of place of birth. But also, unique individual factors depending on their own preferences. The women who had safety as a priority saw birth as something dangerous and sought a hospital birth. While women who prioritized an intervention-free birth without medical pain relief and routine drugs, sought home birth and birth at a birth center.

Keywords: Hospital childbirth, Home childbirth, Birth center childbirth, Choice, Decisionmaking.