What are the statistics on assisted deliveries highlighted by Hilary Erickson?

From the statistics I share on my site, “assisted deliveries” (births using forceps or vacuum) look like this in the U.S.:

1. In 2019, about 3% of births were assisted
2. Roughly 0.5% were by forceps
3. About 2.5% were by vacuum extraction

This is way down from the early 1990s, when assisted deliveries were over 9%.

Are you wondering what this might mean for your own birth plan or risk of needing assistance?