The report presents internationally comparable global, regional and country-level estimates and trends for maternal mortality between 2000 and 2020. The estimates represent the most up to date, internationally-comparable MMEIG estimates of maternal mortality, using refined input data and methods from previous rounds. The resource includes access to the complete input dataset and estimates, model codes, country profiles, and data visualizations.
Highlights
- Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth – meaning that a woman dies around every two minutes. In 2020, about 70% of all maternal deaths were in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Despite the ambition to end preventable maternal deaths by 2030, the world will fall short of this target by more than 1 million lives with the current pace of progress.
- Earlier positive trends in the decline in maternal mortality during the MDG period have stalled on a global level, MMRs stagnated or worsened in most regions between 2016 and 2020.
- Progress is uneven, and large inequities persist both between and within regions and settings with different levels of resources. In nine countries facing severe humanitarian crises, maternal mortality rates were more than double the world average (551 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births, compared to 223 globally).