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.

Estimates based on District hospital discharge data. Counts of and rates based on fewer than 10 births are suppressed for privacy reasons.

Source: Center for Policy Planning and Evaluation, DC Department of Health

Why This Matters

In recent decades, pregnancy-related deaths have risen in the United States. Although relatively rare and mostly preventable, the numbers are high relative to other high-income countries.

Leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related deaths include severe bleeding, cardiac and coronary conditions, and infections. Individual, social, and structural factors contribute to maternal death risk and trends, including maternal age, preexisting medical conditions, access to quality care, insurance, and longstanding racial and ethnic inequities.

Maternal mortality rates are disproportionately higher among birthing people who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

The District Response

Enhancements to District healthcare programs. Medicaid expansion provides greater access to prenatal care, extended postpartum Medicaid coverage for a full year, and reimbursement for doula services through all District programs. For a list of local and national resources on pregnancy and related topics, click here.

Paid family leave program providing 12 weeks to bond with a new child or care for a serious health condition, and 2 weeks specifically for prenatal care.

The District established the Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which investigates the causes of maternal deaths, and develops strategic frameworks to improve maternal health.

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.

Maternal mortality ratio is defined as the number of female deaths due to obstetric causes (ICD-10 codes: A34, O00-O95, O98-O99) while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy. The maternal mortality ratio indicates the likelihood of a pregnant person dying of obstetric causes. It is calculated by dividing the number of deaths among birthing people attributable to obstetric causes in a calendar year by the number of live births registered for the same period and is presented as a rate per 100,000 live births. The number of live births used in the denominator approximates the population of pregnant and birthing people who are at risk. Data are not presented for geographies with number of maternal deaths less than 11.Compared to other high-income countries, women in the US are more likely to die from childbirth or problems related to pregnancy. In addition, there are persistent disparities by race and ethnicity, with Black pregnant persons experiencing a much higher rate of maternal mortality compared to White pregnant persons. Improving the quality of medical care for pregnant individuals before, during, and after pregnancy can help reduce maternal deaths.For more information about the Community Health Profiles Data Initiative, please see the initiative homepage.

From 2019 to 2021, there were over ** infant deaths per 1,000 live births among non-Hispanic Black women who were obese before pregnancy in the United States. This statistic illustrates the rate of infant mortality in the United States from 2019 to 2021, by maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index and race/ethnicity.

In 2022, the child abuse rate for children of Hispanic origin was at 7, indicating 7 out of every 1,000 Hispanic children in the United States suffered from some sort of abuse. This rate was highest among American Indian or Alaska Native children, with 14.3 children out of every 1,000 experiencing some form of abuse. Child abuse in the U.S. The child abuse rate in the United States is highest among American Indian or Alaska Native victims, followed by African-American victims. It is most common among children between two to five years of age. While child abuse cases are fairly evenly distributed between girls and boys, more boys than girls are victims of abuse resulting in death. The most common type of maltreatment is neglect, followed by physical abuse. Risk factors Child abuse is often reported by teachers, law enforcement officers, or social service providers. In the large majority of cases, the perpetrators of abuse were a parent of the victim. Risk factors, such as teen pregnancy, violent crime, and poverty that are associated with abuse and neglect have been found to be quite high in the United States in comparison to other countries.

The STATA do files for creating recodes and analyzing the data files will be provided in this folder for each paper once submitted for publication. Revised do files will be uploaded after the peer review process is complete if there are any changes to the files. The data for this study are publicly available on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey website (https://meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/). SummarySignificant racial and ethnic disparities in cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes, underline entrenched health inequalities in the United States. Non-pregnant, non-Hispanic black women of reproductive age (18-45 years) are more likely to have diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, which increases their risk of maternal morbidity and mortality during the perinatal period. Adherence to disease management and monitoring during the preconception period is crucial, especially among non-Hispanic black women who are disproportionately impacted by maternal morbidity and mortality. Studies have shown positive patient experiences are associated with adherence to recommended medication and treatment, preventive care use, and self-rated health outcomes. There is a dearth of studies, however, examining the effects of patient experiences (and racial differences in patient experiences) on chronic disease management outcomes specifically among non-pregnant, reproductive-age women with diabetes. An understanding of these associations have important implications for maternal morbidity and mortality. The goal of this study is to use the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey datasets (2012-2017 longitudinal files) and robust statistical modeling techniques to investigate racial differences in patient experience among non-pregnant, reproductive-age women with diabetes and its relation to ratings of health care received, diabetes care self-efficacy, and diabetes care monitoring. This study provides important information for researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers. The research addresses the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Strategic Research Issue II: MCH services and systems of care efforts to eliminate health disparities and barriers to health care access for MCH populations. This study informs the development of equitable clinical patient-centered practices that promote optimal disease management among diverse women and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes. It also strengthens and expands MCH Services Block Grant National Performance and Population Priority Domain I: “Well-Woman Visits and Preconception/Interconception Health”. This study is expected to help determine whether positive patient experiences can improve women’s confidence in their abilities to manage their diabetes, and increase their likelihood of receiving recommended diabetes care during the preconception or interconception period. By elucidating the mechanisms by which promoting patient-centered diabetes care interventions during the preconception/interconception period might improve disease management, our study can inform practices and policies that contribute to the attainment of following Healthy People 2020 Maternal, Infant, and Child Health (MIC) Objectives: Increase the proportion of women delivering a live birth who received preconception care services and practiced key recommended preconception health behaviors (MICH-16); Reduce the rate of maternal illness and complications due to pregnancy (MICH-6); and Reduce the rate of maternal mortality (MICH-5). Furthermore, our study findings are expected identify the patient experiences that have the greatest impact on diabetes management outcomes, and can lead to policy changes for provider reimbursements for demonstrating quality patient-provider interactions. By providing insights into ways health care professionals can better communicate with this at-risk population, our study is relevant to the attainment of Healthy People 2020 Health Communication and Health Information Technology (HC/HIT) Objectives: Increase the proportion of persons who report that their health care providers have satisfactory communication skills (HC/HIT-2) and Increase the proportion of persons who report that their health care providers always involved them in decisions about their health care as much as they wanted (HC/HIT-3).

This dataset contains percent preterm and very preterm live births by race/ethnic group of mother. Preterm births are all live births less than 37 weeks of gestation. Very preterm births are all live births less than 32 weeks of gestation. Important growth and development occur throughout pregnancy, especially in the final months and weeks. There is a higher risk of serious disability or death the earlier a baby is born. Gestational age is based on obstetric estimate at delivery (OE). Data includes births with gestational age of 17-47 weeks. Note: The race and ethnic groups in this table utilize eight mutually exclusive race and ethnicity categories. These categories are Hispanic and the following Non-Hispanic categories of Multi-Race, African-American, American Indian (includes Eskimo and Aleut), Asian, Pacific Islander (includes Hawaiian), White (includes Other race) and Unknown (includes refused to state and missing).

Data should not be compared to other data where gestational age is based on the date of last normal menses (LMP) and not OE. The National Center for Health Statistics recently transitioned to using an OE-based gestational age measure due to increasing evidence of its greater validity compared with the LMP-based measure. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_05.pdf)

In 2025, there are six countries, all in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the average woman of childbearing age can expect to have between 5-6 children throughout their lifetime. In fact, of the 20 countries in the world with the highest fertility rates, Afghanistan and Yemen are the only countries not found in Sub-Saharan Africa. High fertility rates in Africa With a fertility rate of almost six children per woman, Chad is the country with the highest fertility rate in the world. Population growth in Chad is among the highest in the world. Lack of healthcare access, as well as food instability, political instability, and climate change, are all exacerbating conditions that keep Chad's infant mortality rates high, which is generally the driver behind high fertility rates. This situation is common across much of the continent, and, although there has been considerable progress in recent decades, development in Sub-Saharan Africa is not moving as quickly as it did in other regions. Demographic transition While these countries have the highest fertility rates in the world, their rates are all on a generally downward trajectory due to a phenomenon known as the demographic transition. The third stage (of five) of this transition sees birth rates drop in response to decreased infant and child mortality, as families no longer feel the need to compensate for lost children. Eventually, fertility rates fall below replacement level (approximately 2.1 children per woman), which eventually leads to natural population decline once life expectancy plateaus. In some of the most developed countries today, low fertility rates are creating severe econoic and societal challenges as workforces are shrinking while aging populations are placin a greater burden on both public and personal resources.