Maternal Deaths in the U.S. Spiked in 2021, CDC Reports

By Selena Simmons-Duffin and Carmel Wroth

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data showed that deaths from maternal causes, including pregnancy complications, rose 40% in 2021 to 1,205. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal mortality as deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days of giving birth. For the United States, the maternal mortality rate in 2021 was 32.9 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, which is over tenfold higher than rates in Australia, Austria, Japan, Spain, and Israel, where estimated maternal mortality ranged from 2 to 3 deaths per 100,000 births in 2020. Overall, WHO data found that high-income countries had maternal mortality rates of 12 per 100,000 live births in 2020, while low-income countries had maternal mortality rates of 430 per 100,000 births. Maternal mortality rates were higher among Black Americans than other groups. According to the CDC, 84% of pregnancy related deaths in the United States were preventable.

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