Infant Mortality Rate by Maternal Race/Ethnicity for New York City, 2007-2016 Counts of infant deaths (age <1 year) are based on NYC death certificates. The rate is calculated using the counts of infant deaths as the numerator and the count of live births from NYC birth certificates as the denominator.

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.

The Mortality - Infant Deaths (from Linked Birth / Infant Death Records) online databases on CDC WONDER provide counts and rates for deaths of children under 1 year of age, occuring within the United States to U.S. residents. Information from death certificates has been linked to corresponding birth certificates. Data are available by county of mother's residence, child's age, underlying cause of death, sex, birth weight, birth plurality, birth order, gestational age at birth, period of prenatal care, maternal race and ethnicity, maternal age, maternal education and marital status. Data are available since 1995. The data are produced by the National Center for Health Statistics.

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 data presents national-level provisional maternal mortality rates based on a current flow of mortality and natality data in the National Vital Statistics System. Provisional rates which are an early estimate of the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, are shown as of the date specified and may not include all deaths and births that occurred during a given time period (see Technical Notes).

A maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes. In this data visualization, maternal deaths are those deaths with an underlying cause of death assigned to International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10) code numbers A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99.

The provisional data include reported 12 month-ending provisional maternal mortality rates overall, by age, and by race and Hispanic origin. Provisional maternal mortality rates presented in this data visualization are for “12-month ending periods,” defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births occurring in the 12-month period ending in the month indicated. For example, the 12-month ending period in June 2020 would include deaths and births occurring from July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2020. Evaluation of trends over time should compare estimates from year to year (June 2020 and June 2021), rather than month to month, to avoid overlapping time periods. In the visualization and in the accompanying data file, rates based on death counts less than 20 are suppressed in accordance with current NCHS standards of reliability for rates. Death counts between 1-9 in the data file are suppressed in accordance with National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) confidentiality standards.

Provisional data presented on this page will be updated on a quarterly basis as additional records are received. Previously released estimates are revised to include data and record updates received since the previous release. As a result, the reliability of estimates for a 12-month period ending with a specific month will improve with each quarterly release and estimates for previous time periods may change as new data and updates are received.

This dataset of U.S. mortality trends since 1900 highlights the differences in age-adjusted death rates and life expectancy at birth by race and sex.

Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000) after 1998 are calculated based on the 2000 U.S. standard population. Populations used for computing death rates for 2011–2017 are postcensal estimates based on the 2010 census, estimated as of July 1, 2010. Rates for census years are based on populations enumerated in the corresponding censuses. Rates for noncensus years between 2000 and 2010 are revised using updated intercensal population estimates and may differ from rates previously published. Data on age-adjusted death rates prior to 1999 are taken from historical data (see References below).

Life expectancy data are available up to 2017. Due to changes in categories of race used in publications, data are not available for the black population consistently before 1968, and not at all before 1960. More information on historical data on age-adjusted death rates is available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/hist293.htm.

SOURCES

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, historical data, 1900-1998 (see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm); CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data (see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/deaths.htm); and CDC WONDER (see http://wonder.cdc.gov).

REFERENCES

1. National Center for Health Statistics, Data Warehouse. Comparability of cause-of-death between ICD revisions. 2008. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality/comparability_icd.htm.

2. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics data available. Mortality multiple cause files. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data_access/vitalstatsonline.htm.

3. Kochanek KD, Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_09-508.pdf.

4. Arias E, Xu JQ. United States life tables, 2017. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 7. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2019. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr68/nvsr68_07-508.pdf.

5. National Center for Health Statistics. Historical Data, 1900-1998. 2009. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/mortality_historical_data.htm.

Historical dataset showing U.S. maternal mortality rate by year from 1985 to 2023.

This dataset includes all infant deaths that were linked to their corresponding birth certificate and includes all items released in the public-use file. Additional information in this file includes state and county of residence and exact dates of birth and death (which includes day of month, month, and year).

All birth data by race before 1980 are based on race of the child; starting in 1980, birth data by race are based on race of the mother. Birth data are used to calculate infant mortality rate. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-visualization/mortality-trends/

Historical dataset showing Virgin Islands (U.S.) maternal mortality rate by year from N/A to N/A.

Rates are infants (under 1 year) and neonatal (under 28 days) deaths per 1,000 live births. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-visualization/mortality-trends/

This topic is no longer available in the NCHS Data Query System (DQS). Search, visualize, and download other estimates from over 120 health topics with DQS, available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/dataquery/index.htm. Data on on average annual infant mortality rates in the United States and U.S. dependent areas, by race and Hispanic origin of mother, state, and territory. Data are from Health, United States. SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set.

Historical dataset showing U.S. infant mortality rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

This dataset is about countries in Central America. It has 8 rows. It features 3 columns: suicide mortality rate, and birth rate.

Data on infant, neonatal, postneonatal, fetal, and perinatal mortality rates by selected characteristics of the mother. Please refer to the PDF or Excel version of this table in the HUS 2019 Data Finder (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2019.htm) for critical information about measures, definitions, and changes over time. SOURCE: NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, public-use Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set, public-use Fetal Death File, and public-use Birth File. For more information on the National Vital Statistics System, see the corresponding Appendix entry at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus19-appendix-508.pdf.

Historical dataset showing North America maternal mortality rate by year from 1985 to 2023.

This is a source dataset for a Let's Get Healthy California indicator at https://letsgethealthy.ca.gov/. Infant Mortality is defined as the number of deaths in infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births. Infant mortality is often used as an indicator to measure the health and well-being of a community, because factors affecting the health of entire populations can also impact the mortality rate of infants. Although California’s infant mortality rate is better than the national average, there are significant disparities, with African American babies dying at more than twice the rate of other groups. Data are from the Birth Cohort Files. The infant mortality indicator computed from the birth cohort file comprises birth certificate information on all births that occur in a calendar year (denominator) plus death certificate information linked to the birth certificate for those infants who were born in that year but subsequently died within 12 months of birth (numerator). Studies of infant mortality that are based on information from death certificates alone have been found to underestimate infant death rates for infants of all race/ethnic groups and especially for certain race/ethnic groups, due to problems such as confusion about event registration requirements, incomplete data, and transfers of newborns from one facility to another for medical care. Note there is a separate data table "Infant Mortality by Race/Ethnicity" which is based on death records only, which is more timely but less accurate than the Birth Cohort File. Single year shown to provide state-level data and county totals for the most recent year. Numerator: Infants deaths (under age 1 year). Denominator: Live births occurring to California state residents. Multiple years aggregated to allow for stratification at the county level. For this indicator, race/ethnicity is based on the birth certificate information, which records the race/ethnicity of the mother. The mother can “decline to state”; this is considered to be a valid response. These responses are not displayed on the indicator visualization.

Data on infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates in the United States, by detailed race and Hispanic origin of mother. Data are from Health, United States. Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. Search, visualize, and download these and other estimates from over 120 health topics with the NCHS Data Query System (DQS), available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/dataquery/index.htm.

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.

Historical dataset showing North America infant mortality rate by year from 1950 to 2025.