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.

The average for 2020 based on 27 countries was 9 deaths per 100,000 births. The highest value was in Cyprus: 68 deaths per 100,000 births and the lowest value was in Poland: 2 deaths per 100,000 births. The indicator is available from 2000 to 2020. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In Nigeria, Chad, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, the maternal mortality rate was over 650 per 100,000 live births in 2023, respectively. Nigeria recorded the highest rate on the continent. That year, for every 100,000 children, 993 mothers died from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management. The maternal death rate in Chad equaled 748. South Sudan and the Central African Republic followed with 692 deaths per 100,000 live births each.

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.

In 2023, ******* had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world, with around *** maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. ******* was followed by **** with a rate of *** maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. This statistic shows the 20 countries with the highest maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births in 2023.

This statistic depicts the maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) for developed nations in Europe, Australia and North America in 2015. According to the data, the United States had a maternal mortality rate of 26.4, compared to Finland with a maternal mortality rate of just 3.8. The U.S. has by far the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries.

This dataset presents the maternal mortality ratio (MMR), defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.1 is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births by 2030. Maternal death refers to the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy, from causes related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. MMR is a critical indicator of health system quality, equity, and access to timely, skilled care. It also reflects broader social and structural determinants of health.Data Source: United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG): https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240108462 This is one of many datasets featured on the Midwives’ Data Hub, a digital platform designed to strengthen midwifery and advocate for better maternal and newborn health services.

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

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.

Global Lifetime Risk of Maternal Death by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Bahamas BS: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data was reported at 76.000 Ratio in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 80.000 Ratio for 2022. Bahamas BS: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 70.000 Ratio from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2023, with 39 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 174.000 Ratio in 2021 and a record low of 46.000 Ratio in 2002. Bahamas BS: 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 Bahamas – Table BS.World Bank.WDI: Social: 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 measured using purchasing power parities (PPPs).;WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group, and UNDESA/Population Division. Trends in maternal mortality estimates 2000 to 2023. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2025;Weighted average;This indicator represents the risk associated with each pregnancy and is also a Sustainable Development Goal Indicator (3.1.1) for monitoring maternal health.

This layer contains population counts and 10 indicators of global population and maternal health by country. Layer is rendered to show the percent of married women ages 15-49 using any contraception. Data is from Population Reference Bureau's 2017 World Population Data Sheet or from their DataFinder site. Fields included are:Population, mid-2017 (reported in millions)Percent of Population Ages <15Percent of Population Ages 65+Male Life Expectancy at BirthFemale Life Expectancy at BirthTotal Fertility Rate: Children per WomanInfant Mortality Rate: Infant Deaths per 1,000 BirthsMaternal Mortality Rate: Maternal Deaths per 100,000 Births (from DataFinder, data from 2013)% Births Attended by Skilled Health Personnel (from DataFinder, year of most recent data available is different for each country, oldest is 2011)% Married Women Ages 15-49 Using Modern Contraception*% Married Women Ages 15-49 Using Any Contraception**Null values indicate that data is not available.*Modern methods include anything that requires supplies or trips to a clinic: condom, pill, injection, IUD, sterilization, etc.**Any method includes modern methods as well as abstinence, fertility awareness/cycle beads, withdrawal, and any other methods that do not require supplies or clinics.For detailed definitions, sources, and footnotes, see page 20 of PRB's 2017 World Population Data Sheet and PRB's DataFinder site.

This dataset provides global, regional, and national level estimates of the maternal mortality ratio (MMR - the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births) as well as the number of maternal deaths from 1980 to 2008.

Objectives: To identify and map all trials in maternal health conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) over the 10-year period 2010-2019, to identify geographical and thematic trends, as well as compare to global causes of maternal death and pre-identified priority areas. Design: Systematic scoping review. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Extracted data included location, study characteristics and whether trials corresponded to causes of mortality and identified research priority topics. Results: Our search identified 7,269 articles, 874 of which were included for analysis. Between 2010 and 2019, maternal health trials conducted in LMICs more than doubled (50 to 114). Trials were conducted in 61 countries – 231 trials (26.4%) were conducted in Iran. Only 225 trials (25.7%) were aligned with a cause of maternal mortality. Within these trials, pre-existing medical conditions, embolism, obstructed labour, and sepsis were all under-represented when compared with number of maternal deaths globally. Large numbers of studies were conducted on priority topics such as labour and delivery, obstetric haemorrhage, and antenatal care. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, diabetes, and health systems and policy – despite being high-priority topics – had relatively few trials. Conclusion: Despite trials conducted in LMICs increasing from 2010 to 2019, there were significant gaps in geographical distribution, alignment with causes of maternal mortality, and known research priority topics. The research gaps identified provide guidance and insight for future research conducted in low-resource settings. Methods With support from an information specialist, a search strategy was devised to capture eligible studies (Supplemental Table 1). Search terms for maternal and perinatal health were derived from search strategies used by Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth to maintain and update their specialised register. We consulted the search filters developed by Cochrane EPOC to identify search terms relating to LMICs. The search strategy was applied to the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), which retrieves records from PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), KoreaMed, Cochrane Review Group’s Specialised Registers, and hand-searched biomedical sources. Searching CENTRAL directly had the benefit of restricting search results to trials only, keeping the volume of citations to screen to a manageable level. Trial register records from ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO ICTRP were not included in the records retrieved from CENTRAL. The search was conducted on 1 May 2020. Citation management, identification of duplicates, and screening articles for eligibility were conducted using EndNote and Covidence. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts of all retrieved citations to identify those that were potentially eligible. Full texts for these articles were accessed and assessed by two independent reviewers according to the eligibility criteria. At both steps, any disagreements were resolved through discussion or consulting a third author. Data collection and analysis For each included trial we extracted information on title, author, year of publication, location where the trial was conducted (country and SDG region), unit of randomisation (individual or cluster), category of intervention, intervention level (public health, community, primary care, hospital, and health system), and category of the primary outcome(s). The intervention and outcome categories were adapted from Cochrane’s list of ‘higher-level categories for interventions and outcomes’. For trials with more than one primary outcome, we identified a single, most appropriate outcome category through discussion and consensus amongst review authors. The level of intervention was determined based on the level of the healthcare system that the trial was primarily targeting – for example, trials recruiting women at an antenatal clinic were classified as primary care level. Public health and preventative care were defined as interventions for those in the community who were well, while home; and community care was defined as interventions for those in the community who were unwell. Based on the trial’s primary objective, we tagged each trial to one of 35 maternal health topics, as well as classified them by relevance to a cause of maternal death identified by Say et al in their global systematic analysis (Box 1). Included trials were additionally categorised into global research priority topics identified by Souza et al and Chapman et al. The research priorities identified by Souza et al were ranked based on the distribution of maternal health themes across the 190 priority research questions – i.e., the theme with the most research questions was considered the highest-ranked priority topic. This mirrored the process used by Chapman et al, where research topics with the greatest representation within the 100 research questions, based on percentage, were given the highest rank. For each trial identified in our review, we used the variables extracted to classify it according to priority topics identified in Souza et al or Chapman et al, where possible (Box 1). All data were extracted by two independent reviewers, with results compared to ensure consistency and any disputes resolved through discussion or consultation with a third author. As this was a scoping review, we did not perform quality assessments on individual trials. We conducted descriptive analyses using Excel to determine frequencies of extracted variables and used line graphs to explore trends. We assessed trends over time using proportions of each variable within studies available for a given year. While we initially planned to look at trends in individual countries and interventions, many had few or no data points.

In 2022, the United States had a maternal mortality rate of **** per 100,000 live births, the highest number among selected high-income countries. Except for the U.S., all high-income countries have universal healthcare coverage that provides essential maternity services. In half of the selected high-income nations, there were fewer than **** maternal fatalities per 100,000 live births.

Women 40 years and over have the highest rates of maternal mortality in the United States. In 2023, the rate of maternal mortality among this age group was around 60 per 100,000 live births. This statistic presents maternal mortality rates in the United States from 2018 to 2023, by age group.

Libya LY: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data was reported at 9.000 Ratio in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 9.000 Ratio for 2014. Libya LY: Maternal Mortality Ratio: Modeled Estimate: per 100,000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 13.500 Ratio from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2015, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 39.000 Ratio in 1990 and a record low of 9.000 Ratio in 2015. Libya LY: 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 Libya – Table LY.World Bank.WDI: 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 measured using purchasing power parities (PPPs).; ; 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.

In 2023, non-Hispanic Black women had the highest rates of maternal mortality among select races/ethnicities in the United States, with 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. The total maternal mortality rate in the U.S. at that time was 18.6 per 100,000 live births, a decrease from a rate of almost 33 in 2021. This statistic presents the maternal mortality rates in the United States from 2018 to 2023, by race and ethnicity.

BackgroundIn low-resource settings where disease burdens remain high and many health facilities lack essentials such as drugs or commodities, functional equipment, and trained personnel, poor quality of care often results and the impact can be profound. In this paper, we systematically quantify the potential gain of addressing quality of care globally using country-level data about antenatal, childbirth, and postnatal care interventions.Methods and findingsIn this study, we created deterministic models to project health outcomes if quality of care was addressed in a representative sample of 81 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). First, available data from health facility surveys (e.g., Service Provision Assessment [SPA] and Service Availability and Readiness Assessment [SARA]) conducted 2007–2016 were linked to household surveys (e.g., Demographic and Health Surveys [DHS] and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys [MICS]) to estimate baseline coverage for a core subset of 19 maternal and newborn health interventions. Next, models were constructed with the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) using country-specific baseline levels in countries with a linked dataset (n = 17) and sample medians applied as a proxy in countries without linked data. Lastly, these 2016 starting baseline levels were raised to reach targets in 2020 as endline based upon country-specific utilization (e.g., proportion of women who attended 4+ antenatal visits, percentage of births delivered in a health facility) from the latest DHS or MICS population-based reports. Our findings indicate that if high-quality health systems could effectively deliver this subset of evidence-based interventions to mothers and their newborns who are already seeking care, there would be an estimated 28% decrease in maternal deaths, 28% decrease in neonatal deaths, and 22% fewer stillbirths compared to a scenario without any change or improvement in quality of care. Totals of 86,000 (range, 77,800–92,400) maternal and 0.67 million (range, 0.59 million–0.75 million) neonatal lives could be saved, and 0.52 million (range, 0.48 million–0.55 million) stillbirths could be prevented across the 81 countries in the calendar year 2020 when adequate quality care is provided at current levels of utilization. Limitations include the paucity of data to individually assess quality of care for each intervention in all LMICs and the necessary assumption that quality of care being provided among the subset of countries with linked datasets is comparable or representative of LMICs overall.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that efforts to close the quality gap would still produce substantial benefits at current levels of access or utilization. With estimated mortality rate declines of 21%–32% on average, gains from this first step would be significant if quality was improved for selected antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal interventions to benefit pregnant women and newborns seeking care. Interventions provided at or around the time of childbirth are most critical and accounted for 64% of the impact overall estimated in this quality improvement analysis.

Global Number of Maternal Deaths Share by Country (Units (Deaths)), 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!