Pregnancy deaths in the U.S.

The United States is one of only 13 countries in the world where the rate of maternal mortality — the death of a woman related to pregnancy or childbirth up to a year after the end of pregnancy — is now worse than it was 25 years ago. Each year, an estimated 700 to 900 maternal deaths occur in the United States.

Considerable racial/ethnic disparities in pregnancy-related mortality exist. During 2014–2017, the pregnancy-related mortality ratios were: 

41.7 deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic Black women. 

28.3 deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native women. 

13.8 deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islander women. 

13.4 deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic White women. 

11.6 deaths per  100,000 live births for Hispanic or Latina women. 

Variability in the risk of death by race/ethnicity may be due to several factors including access to care, quality of care, prevalence of chronic diseases, structural racism, and implicit biases.