Maternal mortality

Read it this way The United States bar is the tallest by a wide margin, more than seven times Sweden's rate, even though most peer figures come from 2021 while the US figure is 2023. Because these are single-year snapshots from different years for different countries, read this as a comparison of overall standing, not a matched trend line. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

Caveat International figures are single-year snapshots from different years, not a matched time series, because most countries do not publish annual maternal mortality series comparable across years.

CDC NCHS and Commonwealth Fund (OECD Health Statistics) · 2018 to 2023 · source

Read it this way The line rises through the pandemic years, peaks at 32.9 in 2021, then falls back to 18.6 by 2023, close to the 17.4 level recorded in 2018. Six years of data show a spike-and-recovery shape, not enough to say whether the underlying rate is now on a lower long-run path. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

CDC NCHS, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States · 2018 to 2023 · source

Read it this way The Black bar is more than three times the height of every other group shown, at 50.3 deaths per 100,000 versus 14.5 for White, 12.4 for Hispanic, and 10.7 for Asian. American Indian and Alaska Native mothers are not shown here because CDC could not publish a reliable national rate for that group. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

Caveat American Indian and Alaska Native maternal mortality cannot be displayed nationally due to small sample sizes, so it is omitted here rather than estimated.

CDC NCHS, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2023 · 2023 · source

Read it this way All four lines rise together in 2020 and 2021 and then fall back, but the Black line stays well above the other three in every single year from 2018 to 2023. The shared spike points to a common period effect across groups, while the persistent vertical gap points to a separate, longer-standing disparity. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

CDC NCHS, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States · 2018 to 2023 · source

Read it this way A ratio of 1.0 would mean equal risk for Black and white mothers; the line stays between 2.5 and 3.5 across all six years and never comes close. The 2023 jump to 3.5 reflects the white rate falling faster than the Black rate that year, not a new rise in Black maternal deaths. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

CDC NCHS, Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States · 2018 to 2023 · source

Read it this way Darker tiles mark states with higher pooled maternal mortality rates from 2018 to 2022, ranging from 10.5 in California to 41.1 in Tennessee among the states shown. Fifteen states plus DC are left blank because their death counts were too small to publish reliably, so the map does not cover every state. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

Caveat State rates are pooled over 2018-2022 because annual state counts are too small to publish reliably. States with fewer than 20 deaths over the five years are suppressed and omitted.

CDC NCHS, Maternal deaths and mortality rates by state, 2018-2022 · 2018 to 2022 · source

Read it this way Bar length here is the raw count of maternal deaths over five years, not the rate, so large states like Texas and California rank high mainly because they have more births. The table alongside gives each state's rate too, since a high count and a high rate answer different questions. Use this chart to separate overall maternal-risk movement from equity and state variation, then connect the evidence to targeted maternal-safety and access interventions.

CDC NCHS, Maternal deaths and mortality rates by state, 2018-2022 · 2018 to 2022 · source