Key points
- About 260,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023 — over 700 a day, a death almost every 2 minutes (WHO, 7 April 2025).
- The global maternal mortality ratio was 197 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023; the SDG target is less than 70 by 2030.
- In 2023, an estimated 160,000 maternal deaths — 6 in 10 — occurred in fragile and conflict-affected settings (WHO technical brief, 17 February 2026).
- About 1.9 million babies were stillborn in 2023 — 14.3 per 1,000 total births (UN IGME, 2024 report).
Direct answer: About 260,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023 — over 700 a day, a maternal death almost every 2 minutes (WHO, fact sheet 7 April 2025). The global maternal mortality ratio was 197 deaths per 100,000 live births. Most of these deaths were preventable. This page gives the global picture: the figures, where deaths happen, the main causes, the conflict gap, and stillbirth. It is awareness only — it gives no advice for any individual pregnancy.
The figures
The figures are WHO’s, from the maternal mortality fact sheet published 7 April 2025 (data year 2023). About 260,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023 — over 700 women a day died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was 197 deaths per 100,000 live births globally, down about 40% from 2000. The Sustainable Development Goal target is to reduce the global MMR to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030; at 197 in 2023, that needs an annual reduction of almost 15%, a rate rarely achieved nationally. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the decline: deaths rose from 282,000 in 2020 to 322,000 in 2021, and by 2022 the global MMR and deaths were lower than in the three years immediately before COVID-19.
Where deaths occur
About 92% of maternal deaths in 2023 occurred in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia together accounted for about 87% (225,000 deaths); sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for about 70% (182,000). The MMR was 346 per 100,000 live births in low-income countries, against 10 in high-income countries — a gap of nearly 35 times. The geography mirrors the child mortality picture on this site: the same countries, the same weak systems, the same concentration of risk. Maternal health and newborn health are closely linked, in WHO’s words — and the same skilled care that protects a mother protects her baby.
The main causes
About 75% of maternal deaths are from major complications: severe bleeding (mostly after childbirth), infections (usually after childbirth), high blood pressure in pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia), complications from delivery, and unsafe abortion. WHO states that most of these are preventable or treatable. The prevention, at population level, is the care around pregnancy and birth: antenatal care, skilled care at birth, and postnatal care — the three companion guides to this page. This page names the complications and goes no further: it does not describe symptoms, and it does not advise any pregnant person.
Maternal deaths in conflict and fragile settings
This section is the home for the gap the research found. In 2023, an estimated 160,000 women died from preventable maternal causes in fragile and conflict-affected settings — 6 in 10 maternal deaths worldwide — despite these countries accounting for only around 1 in 10 of global live births (WHO technical brief, 17 February 2026). Countries classified as conflict-affected had an estimated MMR of 504 deaths per 100,000 live births, while countries considered institutionally and socially fragile had an MMR of 368. In contrast, countries outside both categories saw an MMR of 99. The risk of a woman living in a conflict-affected country dying from maternal causes is around five times higher for each pregnancy than for her peers in stable countries. Crises create conditions where health systems cannot consistently deliver lifesaving maternal care — that is the mechanism, and it is why the conflict gap is a systems story, not only a war story.
Stillbirth
Stillbirth is the other half of the maternal picture that no page on this site covered. About 1.9 million babies were stillborn in 2023 — 14.3 per 1,000 total births — counted from 28 weeks of gestation (UN IGME, “Standing up for stillbirth”, 2024 report). 79% of stillbirths in 2023 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (48%) and South Asia (31%). About 46% of stillbirths occur during labour, and most of those are preventable with timely, quality care. Progress is slow: the stillbirth rate fell by about 37% since 2000, but the annual rate of reduction dropped from 2.5% between 2000 and 2015 to 1.1% between 2015 and 2023. The true burden is greater than 1.9 million, because UN IGME estimates count only late-gestation stillbirths (28 weeks and over); early-gestation stillbirths would add about a third more. This section names the figures and the scale; it does not advise anyone who has experienced a stillbirth, and it points to the antenatal care guide for what WHO’s 8-contact model is designed to prevent.
Frequently asked questions
How many women die in pregnancy and childbirth each year?
About 260,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2023 — over 700 a day (WHO, fact sheet 7 April 2025).
Why do so many maternal deaths happen in conflict-affected countries?
In 2023, 6 in 10 maternal deaths occurred in fragile and conflict-affected settings, where the maternal mortality ratio was 504 per 100,000 live births, against 99 in stable settings (WHO, February 2026).
How many babies are stillborn each year?
About 1.9 million babies were stillborn in 2023 — 14.3 per 1,000 total births (UN IGME, 2024 report).