The Ledger · Entry 11

A mother's risk of dying in childbirth has roughly halved since 1985

Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, worldwide

429 in 1985

212 in 2020

Data: Our World in Data, based on WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division (UN MMEIG), WHO Mortality Database, and Gapminder

For most of history, pregnancy carried a real chance of killing the mother, and there was little medicine could do about the worst of it. The maternal mortality ratio counts how many women die of pregnancy and childbirth causes for every hundred thousand babies born alive.

Source: Our World in Data, based on WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division (UN MMEIG), WHO Mortality Database, and Gapminder · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-07-02. Underlying data: UN MMEIG (WHO; UNICEF; UNFPA; World Bank; UNDESA); WHO Mortality Database; Gapminder.

The key rows

1985 429 The first year of UN MMEIG estimates in this series.

2000 334 The ratio falls as the development-goals era begins.

2015 219 The end of the Millennium Development Goals period.

2020 212 The latest tracked year, about half the 1985 level.

Skilled birth attendants, blood transfusion, antibiotics, and emergency care have steadily pulled that number down. It is still far too high in the poorest places, but the global risk has roughly halved in a generation.

Asked often

What is the maternal mortality ratio?

It is the estimated number of women who die from pregnancy and childbirth causes for every 100,000 live births.

How much has maternal mortality fallen?

Globally it fell from 429 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1985 to 212 in 2020, roughly a halving.

Where do these estimates come from?

They combine the UN Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group, which brings together the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Bank, and UNDESA, with the WHO Mortality Database and Gapminder for earlier years.

The key rows

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