Maternal mortality rates can vary significantly around the world. For example, in 2022, Estonia had a maternal mortality rate of zero per 100,000 live births, while Mexico reported a rate of 38 deaths per 100,000 live births. However, the regions with the highest number of maternal deaths are Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, with differences between countries and regions often reflecting inequalities in health care services and access. Most causes of maternal mortality are preventable and treatable with the most common causes including severe bleeding, infections, complications during delivery, high blood pressure during pregnancy, and unsafe abortion. Maternal mortality in the United States In 2022, there were a total of 817 maternal deaths in the United States. Women aged 25 to 39 years accounted for 578 of these deaths, however, rates of maternal mortality are much higher among women aged 40 years and older. In 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among women aged 40 years and older in the U.S. was 87 per 100,000 live births, compared to a rate of 21 among women aged 25 to 39 years. The rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. has risen in recent years among all age groups. Differences in maternal mortality in the U.S. by race/ethnicity Sadly, there are great disparities in maternal mortality in the United States among different races and ethnicities. In 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among non-Hispanic white women was about 19 per 100,000 live births, while non-Hispanic Black women died from maternal causes at a rate of almost 50 per 100,000 live births. Rates of maternal mortality have risen for white and Hispanic women in recent years, but Black women have by far seen the largest increase in maternal mortality. In 2022, around 253 Black women died from maternal causes in the United States.

This statistic shows the 20 countries* with the highest infant mortality rate in 2024. An estimated 101.3 infants per 1,000 live births died in the first year of life in Afghanistan in 2024. Infant and child mortality Infant mortality usually refers to the death of children younger than one year. Child mortality, which is often used synonymously with infant mortality, is the death of children younger than five. Among the main causes are pneumonia, diarrhea – which causes dehydration – and infections in newborns, with malnutrition also posing a severe problem. As can be seen above, most countries with a high infant mortality rate are developing countries or emerging countries, most of which are located in Africa. Good health care and hygiene are crucial in reducing child mortality; among the countries with the lowest infant mortality rate are exclusively developed countries, whose inhabitants usually have access to clean water and comprehensive health care. Access to vaccinations, antibiotics and a balanced nutrition also help reducing child mortality in these regions. In some countries, infants are killed if they turn out to be of a certain gender. India, for example, is known as a country where a lot of girls are aborted or killed right after birth, as they are considered to be too expensive for poorer families, who traditionally have to pay a costly dowry on the girl’s wedding day. Interestingly, the global mortality rate among boys is higher than that for girls, which could be due to the fact that more male infants are actually born than female ones. Other theories include a stronger immune system in girls, or more premature births among boys.

United States US: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data was reported at 14.000 Ratio in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 14.000 Ratio for 2014. United States US: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 13.000 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2015, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15.000 Ratio in 2009 and a record low of 11.000 Ratio in 1998. United States US: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.World Bank: Health Statistics. Maternal mortality ratio is the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births. The data are estimated with a regression model using information on the proportion of maternal deaths among non-AIDS deaths in women ages 15-49, fertility, birth attendants, and GDP.; ; WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group, and the United Nations Population Division. Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2015; Weighted average; This indicator represents the risk associated with each pregnancy and is also a Sustainable Development Goal Indicator for monitoring maternal health.

This statistic shows the 20 countries * with the lowest infant mortality rate in 2024. An estimated 1.5 out of 1,000 live births died in the first year of life in Slovenia and Singapore in 2024. Infant mortality Infant mortality rates are often used as an indicator of the health and well-being of a nation. Monaco, Iceland, and Japan are among the top three countries with the lowest infant mortality rates with around 2 infant deaths per 1,000 infants within their first year of life. Generally, the countries with the lowest infant mortality also have some of the highest average life expectancy figures. Additionally, the countries with the highest density of physicians and doctors also generally report low infant mortality. Yet, many different factors contribute to differing rates, including the overall income of a country, health spending per capita, a mother’s level of education, environmental conditions, and medical infrastructure, to name a few. This creates a lot of variation concerning the level of childbirth and infant care around the world. The countries with the highest rates of infant mortality include Afghanistan, Mali, and Somalia. These countries experience around 100 infant deaths per 1,000 infants in their first year of life. While the reasons for high rates of infant mortality are numerous, the leading causes of death for children under the year five around the world are Pneumonia, Diarrhea, and Prematurity.

The average for 2022 based on 187 countries was 27 deaths per 1000 births. The highest value was in Niger: 121 deaths per 1000 births and the lowest value was in Estonia: 2 deaths per 1000 births. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This scatter chart displays birth rate (per 1,000 people) against death rate (per 1,000 people) in Europe. The data is about countries.

The dataset contains information on various demographic and health indicators for different countries. It is organized into several columns, each providing essential information about these countries. Here's a description of each column:

1. Country: This column represents the names of different countries or regions included in the dataset. Each row corresponds to a specific country or region, and this column serves as the identifier for each entry.

2. Life Expectancy Males: This column contains data on the average life expectancy of males in each of the listed countries. Life expectancy is a crucial health indicator and provides an estimate of the average number of years a male can expect to live, given current mortality rates and health conditions.

3. Life Expectancy Females: Similar to the "Life Expectancy Males" column, this column provides data on the average life expectancy of females in the same countries. It reflects the average number of years a female can expect to live, considering the prevailing health and mortality conditions.

4. Birth Rate: The "Birth Rate" column contains information about the birth rate in each country. Birth rate is a demographic indicator that represents the number of live births per 1,000 people in a given population over a specific period, usually a year. It can provide insights into a country's population growth or decline.

5. Death Rate: This column presents data on the death rate in each of the listed countries. The death rate is another crucial demographic indicator and represents the number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population over a specific period, often a year. It helps gauge the overall health and mortality conditions within a country.

Japan JP: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data was reported at 5.000 Ratio in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6.000 Ratio for 2014. Japan JP: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 8.000 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2015, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.000 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 5.000 Ratio in 2015. Japan JP: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.World Bank: Health Statistics. Maternal mortality ratio is the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births. The data are estimated with a regression model using information on the proportion of maternal deaths among non-AIDS deaths in women ages 15-49, fertility, birth attendants, and GDP.; ; WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group, and the United Nations Population Division. Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2015; Weighted average; This indicator represents the risk associated with each pregnancy and is also a Sustainable Development Goal Indicator for monitoring maternal health.

UNICEF's country profile for United States, including under-five mortality rates, child health, education and sanitation data.

This scatter chart displays death rate (per 1,000 people) against birth rate (per 1,000 people) in Caribbean. The data is about countries.

The average for 2022 based on 196 countries was 18.19 births per 1000 people. The highest value was in the Central African Republic: 45.42 births per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Hong Kong: 4.4 births per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Context

The Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) is a crucial indicator within the Gender Inequality Index (GII), an encompassing measure designed to assess gender disparities and inequities within a society. The GII, an extension of the Human Development Index (HDI), focuses on three primary dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment, and economic activity. Reproductive health, one of the key dimensions, sheds light on the challenges faced by individuals based on their gender. Within this context, the Maternal Mortality Ratio specifically gauges the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, providing insight into the disparities in health outcomes experienced by women. This indicator reflects the state of maternal health and underscores the importance of addressing reproductive rights to mitigate gender inequalities.

Content

This dataset encompasses extensive historical information regarding gender development indicators on a global scale. Key columns include ISO3 (the ISO3 code assigned to each country/territory), Country (the name of the country or territory), Continent (the continent of the country's location), Hemisphere (the hemisphere in which the country is positioned), Human Development Groups, UNDP Developing Regions, HDI Rank (2021) representing the Human Development Index Rank for the year 2021, and Maternal Mortality Ratio (deaths per 100,000 live births) spanning from 1990 to 2021.

Dataset Glossary (Column-wise)

• ISO3 - ISO3 for the Country/Territory
• Country - Name of the Country/Territory
• Continent - Name of the Continent
• Hemisphere - Name of the Hemisphere
• Human Development Groups - Human Development Groups
• UNDP Developing Regions - UNDP Developing Regions
• HDI Rank (2021) - Human Development Index Rank for 2021
• Maternal Mortality Ratio (deaths per 100,000 live births) from 1990 to 2021 - Maternal Mortality Ratio from 1990 to 2021

Data Dictionary

• UNDP Developing Regions:
  • SSA - Sub-Saharan Africa
  • LAC - Latin America and the Caribbean
  • EAP - East Asia and the Pacific
  • AS - Arab States
  • ECA - Europe and Central Asia
  • SA - South Asia

Structure of the Dataset

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Acknowledgement

This Dataset is created from Human Development Reports. This Dataset falls under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License. You can check the Terms of Use of this Data. If you want to learn more, visit the Website.

Cover Photo by: Image by gstudioimagen1 on Freepik

Thumbnail by: Baby icons created by Victoruler - Flaticon

The number of maternal deaths and maternal mortality rates for selected causes, 2000 to most recent year.

Japan JP: Mortality Rate: Infant: Female: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 1.800 Ratio in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.000 Ratio for 2015. Japan JP: Mortality Rate: Infant: Female: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 2.200 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2017, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.200 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 1.800 Ratio in 2017. Japan JP: Mortality Rate: Infant: Female: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.World Bank: Health Statistics. Infant mortality rate, female is the number of female infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 female live births in a given year.; ; Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

The infant mortality rate is defined as the number of deaths of children under one year of age, expressed per 1 000 live births. Some of the international variation in infant mortality rates is due to variations among countries in registering practices for premature infants. The United States and Canada are two countries which register a much higher proportion of babies weighing less than 500g, with low odds of survival, resulting in higher reported infant mortality. In Europe, several countries apply a minimum gestational age of 22 weeks (or a birth weight threshold of 500g) for babies to be registered as live births. This indicator is measured in terms of deaths per 1 000 live births.

This indicator is a summary measure of premature mortality, providing an explicit way of weighting deaths occurring at younger ages, which may be preventable. The calculation of Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) involves summing up deaths occurring at each age and multiplying this with the number of remaining years to live up to a selected age limit (age 75 is used in OECD Health Statistics). In order to assure cross-country and trend comparison, the PYLL are standardised, for each country and each year. The total OECD population in 2010 is taken as the reference population for age standardisation. This indicator is presented as a total and per gender. It is measured in years lost per 100 000 inhabitants (total), per 100 000 men and per 100 000 women, aged 0-69.

Life expectancy at birth is defined as how long, on average, a newborn can expect to live, if current death rates do not change. However, the actual age-specific death rate of any particular birth cohort cannot be known in advance. If rates are falling, actual life spans will be higher than life expectancy calculated using current death rates. Life expectancy at birth is one of the most frequently used health status indicators. Gains in life expectancy at birth can be attributed to a number of factors, including rising living standards, improved lifestyle and better education, as well as greater access to quality health services. This indicator is presented as a total and per gender and is measured in years.

Eurostat’s annual data collections on demographic statistics are structured as follows:

NOWCAST: Annual data collection on provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least six months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of the Commission implementing regulation (EU) No 205/2014).

DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual data collection on provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of the Commission implementing regulation (EU) No 205/2014).

POPSTAT (Population Statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional demographic and migration data collection. The data relate to populations, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces, and is broken down into several categories (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).

The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary demographic data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’.

The completeness of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and completeness of information provided by the national statistical institutes. For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’.

The following statistics on deaths are collected from the National Statistical Institutes:

• Deaths by month of occurrence
• Deaths by age, year of birth, sex and by:
  • Region (NUTS 2) of residence;
  • Region (NUTS 3) of residence;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Legal marital status;
  • Educational attainment (ISCED 2011).
• Infant deaths by age and sex;
• Infant deaths by parents' level of educational attainment (ISCED);
• Late foetal deaths by mother's age.

Statistics on mortality: based on the different breakdowns of data on deaths received, Eurostat produces the following:

• Statistics available in the online table Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level (demo_gind):
  • Natural change of population, crude death rate.
• Statistics available in the online table Infant mortality rates (demo_find):
  • Infant mortality rate;
  • Neonatal mortality rate;
  • Early neonatal mortality rate;
  • Late foetal mortality rate;
  • Perinatal mortality rate.
• Life table (demo_mlifetable);
• Life expectancy by age and sex (demo_mlexpec);
• Life expectancy by age, sex and educational attainment (ISCED 2011) (demo_mlexpecedu).

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/en/demo_r_gind3_esms.htm" target="_self">Information about statistics on deaths by NUTS regions.

For most of human history, pregnancy and childbirth were very risky; mothers would die in at least 1 in 100 pregnancies.1

Since the average woman would have at least four or five children, the lifetime risk of dying from maternal causes would be at least 1 in 25.2 This was true everywhere.

Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. We’ve made huge strides in not only protecting infants in childbirth and the early stages of their lives, but we’ve also made it much safer for women.

But we’re not done yet. There are still huge inequalities in the risks of pregnancy across the world. Pregnant women in countries like Sierra Leone and Kenya are around 100 times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than those in countries like Norway, Sweden, or Germany.3 But it doesn’t have to be this way. We could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year by closing these gaps.

I’ve compared three scenarios in the chart below to clarify these points.

First, we can see that the situation today is awful. 286,000 women died from maternal causes in 2020.4 That’s 784 deaths per day on average, or one mother dying every two minutes.5

Second, we can consider the very high maternal mortality rates of the past. Particularly good long-term data is available for Finland or Sweden, which shows that in 1750, around 900 women died per 100,000 live births.6 Since there were 135 million births in 2020, I calculate that 1.2 million women would have died from maternal causes that year if these rates hadn’t improved.7 Things are much, much better than they used to be.

Finally, things can still be much better. We know this because some countries have maternal mortality rates that are far lower than the global average. And they all used to be in a similar position to the worst-off countries today. In Europe, the maternal mortality rate was 8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020. That’s around 25 times lower than the global average.8 If all countries could achieve the same outcomes as Europe, 11,000 women would have died from maternal causes in 2020 — a small fraction of the 286,000 deaths that occurred.9

Providing the best conditions for women everywhere would reduce the global death toll by 275,000 maternal deaths a year.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the global death rate, reaching *** in 2021, but had little to no significant impact on birth rates, causing population growth to dip slightly. On a global level, population growth is determined by the difference between the birth and death rates, known as the rate of natural change. On a national or regional level, migration also affects population change. Ongoing trends Since the middle of the 20th century, the global birth rate has been well above the global death rate; however, the gap between these figures has grown closer in recent years. The death rate is projected to overtake the birth rate in the 2080s, which means that the world's population will then go into decline. In the future, death rates will increase due to ageing populations across the world and a plateau in life expectancy. Why does this change? There are many reasons for the decline in death and birth rates in recent decades. Falling death rates have been driven by a reduction in infant and child mortality, as well as increased life expectancy. Falling birth rates were also driven by the reduction in child mortality, whereby mothers would have fewer children as survival rates rose - other factors include the drop in child marriage, improved contraception access and efficacy, and women choosing to have children later in life.

BackgroundDespite the sharp decline in global under-5 deaths since 1990, uneven progress has been achieved across and within countries. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for child mortality were met only by a few countries. Valid concerns exist as to whether the region would meet new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for under-5 mortality. We therefore examine further sources of variation by assessing age patterns, trends, and forecasts of mortality rates.Methods and findingsData came from 106 nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) with full birth histories from 31 SSA countries from 1990 to 2017 (a total of 524 country-years of data). We assessed the distribution of age at death through the following new demographic analyses. First, we used a direct method and full birth histories to estimate under-5 mortality rates (U5MRs) on a monthly basis. Second, we smoothed raw estimates of death rates by age and time by using a two-dimensional P-Spline approach. Third, a variant of the Lee–Carter (LC) model, designed for populations with limited data, was used to fit and forecast age profiles of mortality. We used mortality estimates from the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) to adjust, validate, and minimize the risk of bias in survival, truncation, and recall in mortality estimation. Our mortality model revealed substantive declines of death rates at every age in most countries but with notable differences in the age patterns over time. U5MRs declined from 3.3% (annual rate of reduction [ARR] 0.1%) in Lesotho to 76.4% (ARR 5.2%) in Malawi, and the pace of decline was faster on average (ARR 3.2%) than that observed for infant (IMRs) (ARR 2.7%) and neonatal (NMRs) (ARR 2.0%) mortality rates. We predict that 5 countries (Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda) are on track to achieve the under-5 sustainable development target by 2030 (25 deaths per 1,000 live births), but only Rwanda and Tanzania would meet both the neonatal (12 deaths per 1,000 live births) and under-5 targets simultaneously. Our predicted NMRs and U5MRs were in line with those estimated by the UN IGME by 2030 and 2050 (they overlapped in 27/31 countries for NMRs and 22 for U5MRs) and by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) by 2030 (26/31 and 23/31, respectively). This study has a number of limitations, including poor data quality issues that reflected bias in the report of births and deaths, preventing reliable estimates and predictions from a few countries.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this study is the first to combine full birth histories and mortality estimates from external reliable sources to model age patterns of under-5 mortality across time in SSA. We demonstrate that countries with a rapid pace of mortality reduction (ARR ≥ 3.2%) across ages would be more likely to achieve the SDG mortality targets. However, the lower pace of neonatal mortality reduction would prevent most countries from achieving those targets: 2 countries would reach them by 2030, 13 between 2030 and 2050, and 13 after 2050.

The Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 consist of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) estimates for 234 countries and territories, 143 of which include subnational Units. The data are benchmarked to the year 2015 (Version 1 was benchmarked to the year 2000), and are drawn from national offices, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), and other sources from 2006 to 2014. In addition to Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 includes crude estimates of births and infant deaths, which could be aggregated or disaggregated to different geographies to calculate infant mortality rates at different scales or resolutions, where births are the rate denominator and infant deaths are the rate numerator. Boundary inputs are derived primarily from the Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) data collection. National and subnational data are mapped to grid cells at a spatial resolution of 30 arc-seconds (~1 km) (Version 1 has a spatial resolution of 1/4 degree, ~28 km at the equator), allowing for easy integration with demographic, environmental, and other spatial data.