Maternal Death Rates by Country 2025 | Statistics & Facts

Maternal Death Rates by Country 2025

The global landscape of maternal mortality continues to reveal stark disparities between nations, with maternal death rates by country 2025 showing significant variations based on healthcare infrastructure, economic development, and access to skilled medical professionals. According to the latest data from the World Health Organization and United Nations agencies, approximately 260,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023, equivalent to 712 deaths each day or one death every two minutes. This represents a critical public health challenge that demands urgent attention from policymakers, healthcare providers, and international organizations worldwide.

The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) measures the number of maternal deaths during a given time period per 100,000 live births during the same time period. It depicts the risk of maternal death relative to the number of live births and essentially captures the risk of death in a single pregnancy or single live birth. The global MMR in 2023 stood at 197 deaths per 100,000 live births, down from 328 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000, marking a 40% reduction over two decades. However, this progress remains insufficient to meet the Sustainable Development Goal of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030, which would require an annual rate of reduction of almost 15% over the remaining years.

Key Stats & Facts About Maternal Death Rates by Country 2025

Data Source: WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group, and UNDESA/Population Division – Trends in Maternal Mortality 2000 to 2023 (April 2025)

The statistics reveal profound inequalities in maternal healthcare access. While developed nations have achieved remarkably low maternal mortality rates through advanced healthcare systems, skilled medical personnel, and comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care, developing countries continue to struggle with inadequate healthcare infrastructure, shortage of trained healthcare workers, and limited access to emergency obstetric services. The disparity is particularly evident when comparing high-income countries with a MMR of 10 per 100,000 to low-income countries with a MMR of 346 per 100,000 – a staggering 35-fold difference.

These facts underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions in regions with the highest maternal mortality burdens. Countries experiencing conflict or institutional fragility face additional challenges, with 37 nations classified as conflict-affected or fragile accounting for 61% of global maternal deaths despite representing only 25% of global live births. This concentration of deaths in the world’s most vulnerable settings highlights how political instability, weak health systems, and disrupted supply chains for essential medicines and supplies contribute to preventable maternal deaths.

Countries with Highest Maternal Death Rates 2025

Data Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa Maternal Mortality Factsheet (2020 estimates) and World Population Review (2025 data)

The top ten countries with the highest maternal death rates 2025 share common underlying challenges that perpetuate tragically high mortality rates. These nations face overlapping crises of poverty, ongoing or recent conflict, and critically weak health systems that cannot provide the skilled care and emergency services necessary to save mothers’ lives. In South Sudan, the country with the world’s highest maternal mortality rate of 1,223 per 100,000 live births, most women give birth at home without skilled help, and when complications arise, there is often no hospital nearby or transportation available to reach emergency care in time.

The situation in these high-burden countries reflects fundamental gaps in maternal healthcare delivery. Only 73% of births in low-income countries are assisted by skilled health personnel compared to approximately 99% in high-income countries. Furthermore, in South Sudan, only 19% of deliveries occur with a trained health worker, and just 3% of facilities are equipped to provide comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care. The caesarean section coverage accounts for only 1% of total expected births, far below the threshold needed to manage complications and prevent maternal deaths.

The impact of conflict cannot be overstated. Countries experiencing armed conflict have maternal mortality ratios that are double those found in conflict-free countries. In 2023, the MMR in conflict-affected areas was 504 deaths per 100,000 live births compared to 368 in fragile settings and 99 in non-conflict, non-fragile settings. This demonstrates how war and instability destroy health infrastructure, displace populations, disrupt supply chains for essential medicines and blood products, and prevent healthcare workers from accessing remote areas where services are desperately needed.

Countries with Lowest Maternal Death Rates 2025

Data Source: World Population Review (2025) and WHO/UNICEF Maternal Mortality Estimates (2023)

European countries dominate the list of nations with the lowest maternal death rates 2025, with Belarus, Poland, and Norway reporting fewer than two deaths per 100,000 live births. These countries have achieved remarkable maternal safety through decades of sustained investment in healthcare infrastructure, universal health coverage, comprehensive training programs for healthcare workers, and evidence-based clinical protocols for managing pregnancy and childbirth complications. The success of these nations demonstrates that maternal death is largely preventable when women have access to quality healthcare throughout pregnancy, skilled attendance during delivery, and timely emergency obstetric care when complications arise.

The integration of midwifery-led care has proven particularly effective in countries with the lowest maternal mortality rates. The World Health Organization recommends midwives as an evidence-based approach to reducing maternal mortality, and several systematic reviews have found that midwifery-led care for women with healthy pregnancies is comparable or preferable to physician-led care in terms of maternal and neonatal outcomes. Countries with the lowest intervention rates, best outcomes, and lowest costs have successfully integrated midwifery-led care into their health systems. High-income countries typically have approximately 99% of all births attended by skilled health professionals, compared to only 73% in low-income countries.

Between 2000 and 2023, Eastern Europe achieved one of the greatest overall reductions in maternal mortality ratio with a 75% decline from an MMR of 38 to 9 per 100,000 live births. This dramatic improvement demonstrates that rapid progress is possible with political commitment, adequate funding, and systematic implementation of evidence-based maternal health interventions. These countries prioritize comprehensive antenatal care that detects risks early in pregnancy, ensuring all women have access to facility-based deliveries with skilled attendants, providing emergency obstetric services including blood transfusions and surgical interventions when needed, and offering quality postnatal care to address complications that may arise after delivery.

Regional Maternal Death Rates 2025

Data Source: WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group, UNDESA – Trends in Maternal Mortality 2000 to 2023 (April 2025)

The regional disparities in maternal death rates 2025 reveal that Sub-Saharan Africa continues to bear the heaviest burden, accounting for 70% of all global maternal deaths despite significant progress. The region’s MMR of 454 per 100,000 live births in 2023 is approximately 152 times higher than Australia and New Zealand’s MMR of 3 per 100,000. While Sub-Saharan Africa achieved a substantial 40% reduction in maternal mortality between 2000 and 2023, the absolute number of deaths remains unconscionably high at 182,000 women per year due to the region’s large population and high birth rates.

Southern Asia represents the second-highest burden region with 17% of global maternal deaths totaling approximately 43,000 women annually. However, this region achieved one of the most impressive improvements with a 71% reduction in MMR from 405 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 117 in 2023. The greatest reduction in lifetime risk of maternal death during this period occurred in the region of Central and Southern Asia, with an 83% fall from 1 in 71 women in 2000 to 1 in 410 in 2023. This demonstrates that substantial progress is achievable even in resource-limited settings through focused interventions, political commitment, and investment in maternal health services.

During the first half of the Sustainable Development Goals period from 2016 to 2023, only three regions achieved significant reductions in MMR: Australia and New Zealand (50% reduction), Central and Southern Asia (26.5% reduction), and Sub-Saharan Africa (22.2% reduction). Meanwhile, maternal mortality stagnated in five regions after 2015: Northern Africa and Western Asia, Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand), Europe and North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Notably, Latin America and the Caribbean experienced the smallest reduction in MMR during the 2000-2023 period at only 16.8%, and the region actually saw increases between 2015-2020 of approximately 15%, raising concerns about backsliding in maternal health services.

Leading Causes of Maternal Death 2025

Data Source: WHO Lancet Global Health Study (March 2025) – Global and Regional Causes of Maternal Deaths 2009-2020

Hemorrhage – severe heavy bleeding – remains the leading cause of maternal deaths globally, responsible for nearly one-third (27%) of all maternal mortality in 2020, equivalent to approximately 80,000 fatalities. Most hemorrhaging occurs during or immediately following childbirth, and the condition is highly treatable when women have timely access to blood transfusions, surgical interventions, and medications like oxytocin that help control bleeding. However, in many low-resource settings, delays in recognizing complications, transporting women to facilities equipped to handle emergencies, and inadequate supplies of blood products and essential medicines mean that women continue to die from what should be a preventable complication.

Preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders contribute to an additional 16% of maternal mortality, responsible for approximately 50,000 deaths annually. Preeclampsia is a serious condition characterized by high blood pressure that can lead to hemorrhage, strokes, organ failures, and seizures if left untreated or treated too late. Studies show that deaths due to preeclampsia and eclampsia primarily result from intracerebral hemorrhage, uncontrolled hypertension, and systemic inflammation. Approximately 20% of women with preeclampsia develop hypertension or kidney problems within seven years of a preeclamptic pregnancy, indicating long-term health consequences beyond immediate maternal mortality.

A critical finding from the latest WHO study is that indirect causes – health conditions including both infectious and chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, anemia, and diabetes – underpin nearly one-quarter (23%) of pregnancy and childbirth-related mortality. This represents approximately 66,000 deaths annually from conditions that existed before pregnancy but were worsened by the physiological demands of pregnancy. This highlights the importance of comprehensive preconception care and management of chronic conditions before and during pregnancy. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria remains endemic, approximately 20% of childhood deaths result from this disease, and pregnant women face heightened vulnerability to severe malaria complications.

Other significant causes include sepsis and infections (11%), responsible for approximately 32,000 deaths, and complications from spontaneous and induced abortions (8%), including miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies, and issues relating to unsafe abortions, accounting for approximately 23,000 deaths annually. Pulmonary embolism – blood clots that travel to the lungs – causes approximately 5% of maternal deaths or 14,000 fatalities per year. The remaining 10% of deaths stem from other direct obstetric causes including obstructed labor, anesthetic complications, and injuries that occur during childbirth.

United States Maternal Mortality 2025

Data Source: CDC National Vital Statistics System (2022-2023), Commonwealth Fund Analysis (July 2025)

The United States maternal mortality crisis represents a troubling anomaly among developed nations, with the country reporting an MMR of approximately 21 per 100,000 live births in 2022, placing it 62nd globally and significantly higher than comparable high-income countries. In 2023, the World Health Organization declared that the United States was one of only seven countries to report a significant increase in the proportion of pregnancies that result in maternal death since 2000. The other countries in this unfortunate category are Venezuela, Cyprus, Greece, Mauritius, Belize, and the Dominican Republic, as well as the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The maternal mortality ratio in the United States is triple that of countries like Sweden, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically worsened the situation, with pregnancy-related deaths nearly doubling from approximately 660 deaths annually in pre-pandemic years to 1,222 deaths in 2020-2021. By 2023, the ratio had almost returned to its pre-pandemic level, dropping back to 676 deaths, though this still represents an unacceptably high rate compared to other wealthy nations. Even with this improvement, the number remains similar to earlier totals despite declining birth rates, suggesting ongoing systemic challenges in maternal healthcare delivery.

Racial disparities in US maternal mortality remain deeply troubling. The COVID-19 pandemic only deepened racial disparities in pregnancy-related deaths that existed prior to 2020. Black women face maternal mortality rates that are two to three times higher than white women, reflecting systemic inequities in healthcare access, quality of care, implicit bias in medical treatment, and social determinants of health. For Non-Hispanic Black women, the most common underlying causes of death include preeclampsia, eclampsia, and embolism, while cardiovascular conditions and cardiomyopathy affect all racial groups but with higher fatality rates among Black mothers.

Several factors contribute to the high maternal mortality in the United States. The country has too few maternity care providers, especially midwives, compared to other developed nations that have successfully integrated midwifery-led care. There is inadequate access to comprehensive postpartum care, with most deaths occurring in the postpartum period from one day after giving birth to a full year later. The United States lacks universal paid maternity leave policies that other developed nations provide. States that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility report maternal death rates that are 18% to 49% higher than states that have expanded coverage, demonstrating the protective effect of healthcare access. Additionally, behavioral health issues including drug use were the leading cause of maternal deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for one-fifth (20%) of deaths.

Adolescent Maternal Mortality Rates 2025

Data Source: Save the Children State of the World’s Mothers Report, WHO Maternal Health Data, UNICEF Adolescent Health Statistics (2023-2024)

Adolescent maternal mortality represents one of the most devastating yet preventable crises in global health. Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death among girls aged 15 to 19 years in developing countries, claiming approximately 70,000 young lives annually. These teenage mothers face substantially higher risks than adult women, with girls aged 15-19 being twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to women over age 20, while the youngest mothers aged 10-14 face risks that are five times higher than women aged 20-24. The physiological immaturity of very young girls means their bodies are simply not ready for pregnancy and childbirth, leading to higher rates of obstructed labor, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and other life-threatening complications.

The global burden of adolescent pregnancy remains substantial, with 13 million births to women under age 20 occurring annually, representing 10% of all global births. More than 90% of these adolescent births occur in developing countries, where one-third of all women give birth before reaching age 20. Regional disparities are striking, with West Africa reporting that 55% of girls become mothers before age 20, compared to just 8% in East Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to have the highest adolescent birth rates globally at 93 births per 1,000 girls aged 15-19 and 4.4 births per 1,000 girls aged 10-14 in 2023. These young mothers and their babies face compounded risks, with infants born to adolescent mothers being 50% more likely to die than babies born to women in their twenties, due to higher rates of low birth weight, preterm delivery, and severe neonatal conditions.

Skilled Birth Attendance Rates by Country 2025

Data Source: UNICEF Delivery Care Data (November 2024), WHO/UNICEF Skilled Birth Attendance Statistics, UN SDG Progress Report 2024

Skilled birth attendance – defined as births attended by a medical doctor, nurse, or midwife – has improved globally, rising from 80% of births in 2015 to 86% in 2023. However, this progress masks substantial inequities, with 18 million births still occurring annually without the assistance of skilled health personnel who can recognize complications, provide emergency interventions, and save lives when problems arise. The disparity between high-income and low-income countries remains stark, with nearly universal (99%) skilled attendance in wealthy nations compared to only 73% in low-income countries – a 26 percentage point gap that translates into thousands of preventable maternal and newborn deaths.

Regional variations in skilled birth attendance reveal dramatic disparities in access to quality maternal healthcare. While Europe and Central Asia, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa have achieved universal or nearly universal coverage, Sub-Saharan Africa lags significantly behind with only 74% of births attended by skilled personnel in 2023. Despite this challenging figure, the region has made remarkable progress, increasing skilled birth attendance by over 30 percentage points since 2000. Southern Asia achieved even more dramatic improvements, with coverage growing by over 50 percentage points from below 30% in 2000 to over 80% by 2023, demonstrating that rapid progress is achievable even in resource-constrained settings with focused investments in midwifery training and deployment.

Equity gaps within countries present perhaps the most troubling disparities. Globally in 2023, approximately 77% of births among rural mothers were attended by skilled health personnel compared to 93% among urban mothers – a 16 percentage point gap that reflects barriers including distance to facilities, transportation challenges, and fewer healthcare workers in remote areas. Wealth-based inequities are equally stark, with women in the richest 20% of their country’s population being approximately 1.5 times more likely than women in the poorest quintile to have skilled attendance at delivery (96% versus 69%). The disparities are most extreme in West and Central Africa, where the richest women are twice as likely as the poorest to deliver with skilled assistance (95% versus 48%). According to projections, if current coverage rates remain unchanged, approximately 141 million births in Sub-Saharan Africa will occur without skilled assistance between 2022 and 2030, as the region experiences a 15% increase in annual births during this period.

Cesarean Section Rates by Country 2025

Data Source: WHO Cesarean Section Rates Data, PLOS Global Public Health (February 2024), Health Science Reports (May 2023), OECD Health Statistics

Cesarean section rates have increased dramatically worldwide over the past three decades, rising from approximately 7% of all births in 1990 to 21% currently, with projections indicating the rate will reach 29% by 2030 – meaning nearly one in three children will be born by cesarean section. This represents an estimated 38 million cesarean procedures annually by 2030, making it one of the most common surgical procedures performed globally. While cesarean delivery is a life-saving intervention when medically indicated for complications like fetal distress, obstructed labor, or placental problems, rates exceeding the WHO-recommended range of 10-15% (recently updated to 15-20% by European professional societies) are not associated with further reductions in maternal or neonatal mortality and instead increase risks of complications.

The global landscape reveals stark disparities in access to cesarean sections, with both under-use and over-use coexisting. Turkey reports the highest cesarean section rate among OECD countries at 58.4% (or 584 per 1,000 live births), followed by South Korea, while Latin America and the Caribbean has the highest regional cesarean rate globally. These elevated rates reflect multiple factors including defensive medicine practices driven by fear of litigation, maternal request for scheduled cesareans, financial incentives in private healthcare systems, and convenience for healthcare providers. In contrast, West and Central Africa has the lowest cesarean section rates globally, with countries like South Sudan reporting cesarean coverage of only 1% of expected births – far below the minimum threshold needed to manage life-threatening complications, resulting in preventable maternal and perinatal deaths.

Northern European countries with cesarean rates in the 15-20% range demonstrate optimal outcomes, achieving some of the lowest maternal and perinatal mortality rates globally while maintaining appropriate access to surgical delivery when medically necessary. Research has shown that when national cesarean section rates rise to approximately 15%, there are associated decreases in maternal and neonatal mortality, but rates exceeding 20% do not correlate with further improvements and instead increase risks. For mothers, unnecessary cesareans carry elevated risks of abdominal pain, bladder and ureteric injury, hysterectomy, thromboembolic disease, hospital readmission, and death. In future pregnancies, previous cesarean delivery increases risks of placental complications (abruption, previa, accreta), uterine rupture, stillbirth, preterm birth, and need for hysterectomy. For newborns, cesarean birth increases risks of hypoglycemia, respiratory distress, and reduced breastfeeding success. The challenge moving forward is ensuring equitable access – providing cesarean sections where they are life-saving while reducing unnecessary procedures where they pose avoidable risks.

The trajectory of maternal mortality rates through 2030 presents both encouraging progress and sobering challenges that will determine whether the global community can achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Current projections indicate that without dramatic acceleration of efforts, the world will fall significantly short of this target. The global MMR of 197 per 100,000 live births in 2023 must decline to below 70 by 2030, requiring an annual rate of reduction of almost 15% – a pace that has rarely been achieved at the national level and represents more than six times the current rate of progress.

The slowing momentum since 2016 raises serious concerns about backsliding in maternal health investments. Progress that was substantive between 2000 and 2015 has stagnated, with the global MMR declining by only 1.5% annually since 2016. Five regions experienced complete stagnation during this period, with maternal mortality rates remaining essentially unchanged. This deceleration coincides with humanitarian funding cuts that are having severe impacts on essential healthcare in many parts of the world, forcing countries to roll back vital services for maternal, newborn, and child health. These cuts have led to facility closures, loss of skilled health workers, and disruption of supply chains for lifesaving medicines such as treatments for hemorrhage, preeclampsia, and malaria.

Looking ahead, achieving meaningful reductions in maternal death rates by country through 2030 will require unprecedented political commitment and financial investment. The concentration of maternal deaths in 37 conflict-affected or fragile countries that account for 61% of global deaths despite representing only 25% of global births demands targeted humanitarian assistance and health system strengthening in the world’s most vulnerable settings. Innovations in maternal healthcare delivery, including community-based interventions, task-shifting to trained midwives and community health workers, mobile health technologies for prenatal monitoring, and improved supply chains for essential medicines and blood products, offer promising pathways forward. However, these interventions require sustained funding, political stability, and systematic implementation at scale to translate evidence into impact and ensure that every woman, regardless of where she lives, can give birth safely.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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