Statistics on Maternal Mortality

Content

1. Numbers
2. Geographical breakdown
3. Causes
4. Consequences

1. Numbers

Maternal death, or maternal mortality, is the death of a woman due to childbirth or during a pregnancy. More than half a million women die during pregnancy or childbirth every year, and many millions suffer from inadequately treated complications. (Although the most recent numbers are about 350.000. It’s not clear whether this is a real improvement or just the result of better data collection and calculation). Every minute, a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth. This adds up to 1,400 women dying each day from pregnancy-related causes.

Women in the U.S. face a one-in-2,400 risk of dying in childbirth, the highest of any industrialized nation. In Sweden 1 in 14100. In Sub Saharan Africa, 1 in 39.

The total numbers for the world are high, but historically speaking we’re at an all-time low:

probability of infant and maternal death

(source)

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2. Geographical breakdown

About half of maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and about one third occur in South Asia – the two regions together account for about 85 per cent of all maternal deaths.

(source) 

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3. Causes

These are the major causes of maternal mortality, as well as the basic remedies:

(source)

One of the main causes is unsafe childbirth, so it’s good to see that there has been some progress in the number of assisted deliveries:

(source)

(source)

There is a strong correlation between the age of the mother and maternal mortality. Girls between the ages of l0 and 14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24. Girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are twice as likely to die:

(source)

Here’s a graph showing the influence of abortion restrictions on maternal mortality:

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4. Consequences

Apart from the obvious consequences for the mothers concerned, maternal mortality also severely impacts on the children who are left motherless. These children are 10 times more likely than their peers to die within two years of their mothers’ deaths. Young girls who survive are often forced to leave school to care for siblings, which diminishes their chances of avoiding poverty later in life.

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