Forum on Child and Family StatisticsMaternal Mortality
The World Health Organization defines maternal mortality as "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."54 Maternal mortality varies by maternal race and Hispanic origin, maternal age, and metropolitan status. In the United States, Black, non-Hispanic women have the highest maternal mortality rates.55 These racial and ethnic disparities may reflect structural racism, particularly inequities in access to quality healthcare services.56
Figure 30: Maternal mortality rates by race and Hispanic origin, 2018–2022
NOTE: NH = non-Hispanic origin. Maternal mortality is defined as 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. The number of maternal deaths does not include all deaths occurring to pregnant or recently pregnant women; it only includes those with an underlying cause of death assigned to International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD), 10th Revision codes A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99. To address the underreporting of maternal deaths in vital statistics, a separate pregnancy checkbox item was added to the 2003 U.S. Standard Certificate of Death. The new death certificate was adopted by states and reporting areas on a rolling basis from 2003 to 2017. Starting in 2018, all states and reporting areas are using the new death certificate with the pregnancy checkbox (note that California has implemented a different version of the pregnancy checkbox). The 1997 U.S. Office of Management and Budget standards were used to classify people into one of the following five race groups: White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. All categories are single race. Data on race and Hispanic origin are collected and reported separately. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Natality and Mortality.
- From 2018 to 2021, the maternal mortality rate increased from 17 deaths per 100,000 live births to 33 deaths per 100,000 live births and then declined to 22 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022. This pattern held by race and Hispanic origin, age and MSA status.
- In 2022, 817 women died of maternal causes in the United States, compared with 1,205 in 2021.
- Rates for each age group were higher in 2022 than 2018, except for rates among women ages 40 and over.
- In 2022, the maternal mortality rate for Black, non-Hispanic women (49.5 per 100,000 live births) was 30 points higher than the rate for White, non-Hispanic women (19 per 100,000 live births) and 33 points higher than the rate for Hispanic women (16.9 per 100,000).
Figure 31: Maternal mortality rates by metropolitan status, 2018–2022
NOTE: Maternal mortality is defined as 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. The number of maternal deaths does not include all deaths occurring to pregnant or recently pregnant women, but only deaths with the underlying cause of death assigned to International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99. The Office of Management and Budget classifies counties as within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA). In this report, counties not classified as within an MSA are classified as nonmetropolitan. Nonmetropolitan counties may include small urban areas, as well as completely rural areas. Nonmetropolitan counties include counties in micropolitan statistical and rural areas. To address the underreporting of maternal deaths in vital statistics, a separate pregnancy checkbox item was added to the 2003 U.S. Standard Certificate of Death. The new death certificate was adopted by states and reporting areas on a rolling basis from 2003 to 2017. Starting in 2018, all states and reporting areas are using the new death certificate with the pregnancy checkbox (note that California has implemented a different version of the pregnancy checkbox). The Office of Management and Budget classifies counties as within a metropolitan statistical areas (MSA). In this report, counties not classified as within an MSA are classified as nonmetropolitan. Nonmetropolitan counties may include small urban areas, as well as completely rural areas. Nonmetropolitan counties include counties in micropolitan statistical and rural areas.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, Natality and Mortality.
- The maternal mortality rate also varied by metropolitan status. The maternal mortality rate was higher in nonmetropolitan counties than metropolitan counties during 2018 to 2022. In 2022, the maternal mortality rate in nonmetropolitan counties was 31 deaths per 100,000 live births, 10 points higher than the rate in metropolitan counties (21 deaths per 100,000 live births).
54 World Health Organization. (2009). International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision (ICD–10). 2008 ed. Geneva, Switzerland.
55 Hoyert, D.L. Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2021. (2023). NCHS Health E-Stats. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:124678.
56 Collier, A. Y., & Molina, R. L. (2019). Maternal Mortality in the United States: Updates on Trends, Causes, and Solutions. NeoReviews, 20(10), e561–e574. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/neo.20-10-e561.
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
