Maternal mortality in the United States

Maternal mortality refers to the death of a woman during her pregnancy or up to a year after her pregnancy has terminated; this metric only includes causes related to the pregnancy, and does not include accidental causes.^[3] Some sources will define maternal mortality as the death of a woman up to 42 days after the pregnancy has ended, instead of one year.^[4] In 1986, the CDC began tracking pregnancy-related deaths to gather information and determine what was causing these deaths by creating the Pregnancy-Related Mortality Surveillance System.^[3] According to a 2010-2011 report although the United States was spending more on healthcare than any other country in the world, more than two women died during childbirth every day, making maternal mortality in the United States the highest (12.7 deaths per 100,000 births) when compared to 49 other countries in the developed world.^[5]

As of 2021, the US had an estimated 32.9 deaths per 100,000 births.^[2] The CDC reported an increase in the maternal mortality ratio in the United States from 18.8 deaths per 100,000 births to 23.8 deaths per 100,000 births between 2000 and 2014, a 26.6% increase.^[6] The mortality rate of pregnant and recently pregnant women in the United States rose almost 30% between 2019 and 2020.^[7] According to the CDC, a study that included data from 36 states found that more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable between 2017 and 2019.^[8]