TUESDAY, March 31, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- In 2023, the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was 190.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 livebirths, according to a study published online March 26 in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women's Health.
Jennifer Faith and members of the GBD 2023 Maternal Mortality Collaborators examined maternal mortality levels and trends and progress toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.1 target for the MMR of fewer than 70 deaths per 100,000 livebirths. Maternal mortality rates were estimated up to one year postpartum using Cause of Death Ensemble modeling.
The researchers identified 240,000 total maternal deaths globally in 2023, equating to a global MMR of 190.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 livebirths. Maternal deaths accounted for 5.5 percent of all deaths among females aged 10 to 54 years. From 1990, there was a substantial decrease in global MMR, but 104 of 204 countries and territories have not met the SDG 3.1 target; of these, 15, 16, and 73 had MMR in the range of 70 to 100, 100 to 140, and higher than 140, respectively. Most countries and territories (120) had slower or reversed annualized rates of change in MMR during 2015 to 2023 versus 2000 to 2015. Approximately 1,740; 23,100; and 22,900 total additional maternal deaths were estimated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for 2020 and 2021 combined, using the experimental COVID-19 population attributable fraction (PAF), maternal PAF, and excess mortality approaches, respectively.
"While the world made impressive strides in reducing maternal mortality after 2000, momentum has slowed since 2015 and, in some places, has started to regress," senior author Mae Dirac, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.