Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2023

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by Donna L. Hoyert, Ph.D.

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This report presents maternal mortality rates for 2023 based on data from the National Vital Statistics System. A maternal death is defined by the World Health Organization as “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes” (1). Maternal mortality rates—the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births—are shown in this report by age group and race and Hispanic origin.

This report updates a previous one that showed maternal mortality rates for 2018–2022 (2). In 2023, 669 women died of maternal causes in the United States, compared with 817 in 2022 (2) (Figure 1, Table). The maternal mortality rate for 2023 decreased to 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with a rate of 22.3 in 2022.

In 2023, maternal mortality rates decreased significantly for White non-Hispanic (subsequently, White) and Hispanic women (Figure 2, Table). The observed decrease for Asian non-Hispanic (subsequently, Asian) and increase for Black non-Hispanic (subsequently, Black) women was not statistically significant. In 2023, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births and was significantly higher than rates for White (14.5), Hispanic (12.4), and Asian (10.7) women.

Rates decreased significantly for women ages 25–39 and age 40 and older between 2022 and 2023 (Figure 3, Table). Rates in 2023 were 12.5 deaths per 100,000 live births for women younger than age 25, 18.1 for those ages 25–39, and 59.8 for those age 40 and older. The rate for women age 40 and older was nearly five times higher than the rate for women younger than age 25. Differences in the rates between age groups were statistically significant.

Data sources and methods

Data are from the National Vital Statistics System mortality file (3). Consistent with previous reports, the number of maternal deaths does not include all deaths during pregnancy or among recently pregnant women but only those deaths with the underlying cause of death assigned to International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99. Maternal mortality rates are per 100,000 live births, based on data from the National Vital Statistics System natality file. Maternal mortality rates fluctuate from year to year because of the relatively small number of these events, and possibly because of issues with the accuracy of reporting maternal deaths on death certificates (4). Efforts to improve data quality are ongoing, and these data will continue to be evaluated for possible errors. Data are shown for only the four largest race and Hispanic-origin groups for which statistically reliable rates can be calculated, and numbers and rates are suppressed for those groups for which statistically reliable rates cannot be calculated (5). Additional details and data on provisional maternal mortality rates are available (6,7).

References

  1. World Health Organization. International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision (ICD–10). 2008 ed. 2009.
  2. Hoyert DL. Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2022. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2023. DOI: .
  3. Murphy SL, Kochanek KD, Xu JQ, Arias E. Mortality in the United States, 2023. NCHS Data Brief, no 521. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2024. DOI: .
  4. Hoyert DL, Miniño AM. Maternal mortality in the United States: Changes in coding, publication, and data release, 2018. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 69 no 2. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2020.
  5. Murphy SL, Kochanek KD, Xu JQ, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2021. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 73 no 8. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2024. DOI: .
  6. National Center for Health Statistics. Maternal mortality. Available from: /nchs/maternal-mortality/index.htm.
  7. National Center for Health Statistics. Provisional maternal mortality rates. Available from: /nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-maternal-deaths-rates.htm.

Suggested citation

Hoyert DL. Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2023. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2025. DOI: .

Figures

Figure 1. Maternal mortality rate: United States, 2018–2023

Figure 1 is a line graph of the maternal mortality rate for 2018–2022.
1Statistically significant change from previous year (p < 0.05).
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data files.

Figure 2. Maternal mortality rate, by race and Hispanic origin: United States, 2022 and 2023

Figure 2 is a bar chart of the maternal mortality rate by race and Hispanic origin in the United States in 2021 and 2022.
1Statistically significant difference from Black non-Hispanic (p < 0.05).
2Statistically significant decrease in rate from previous year (p < 0.05).
NOTE: Race groups are single race. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data file.

Figure 3. Maternal mortality rate, by age: United States, 2022 and 2023

This is a bar chart of the maternal mortality rates by age. The rates increase with increasing age. The decrease between 2022 and 2023 is statistically significant for age groups 25–39 and 40 and older.
1Statistically significant decrease in rate from previous year (p < 0.05).
2Statistically significant difference from younger than 25 (p < 0.05).
3Statistically significant difference from 40 and older (p < 0.05).
SOURCE: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality data file.

Table

Table. Number of live births and maternal deaths, and maternal mortality rate, by race and Hispanic origin and age: United States, 2018–2023

Table. Number of live births and maternal deaths, and maternal mortality rate, by race and Hispanicorigin and age: United States, 2018–2023
Table. Number of live births and maternal deaths, and maternal mortality rate, by race and Hispanic origin and age: United States, 2018–2023
Race and Hispanic origin and age 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Number of live births
Total1 3,791,712 3,747,540 3,613,647 3,664,292 3,667,758 3,596,017
    Younger than 25 907,782 877,803 825,403 797,334 784,299 759,713
    25–39 2,756,974 2,739,976 2,658,445 2,731,223 2,738,802 2,689,250
    40 and older 126,956 129,761 129,799 135,735 144,657 147,054
  Asian, non-Hispanic2 240,798 238,769 219,068 213,813 218,994 215,738
    Younger than 25 16,338 15,071 12,993 11,149 11,002 10,352
    25–39 211,331 210,177 193,139 189,405 193,025 190,128
    40 and older 13,129 13,521 12,936 13,259 14,967 15,258
  Black, non-Hispanic2 552,029 548,075 529,811 517,889 511,439 491,494
    Younger than 25 176,243 169,853 159,541 149,435 140,498 131,977
    25–39 358,276 360,206 351,648 349,170 349,740 337,697
    40 and older 17,510 18,016 18,622 19,284 21,201 21,820
  White, non-Hispanic2 1,956,413 1,915,912 1,843,432 1,887,656 1,840,739 1,787,051
    Younger than 25 391,829 374,129 348,666 336,792 324,604 309,033
    25–39 1,504,888 1,480,595 1,433,839 1,486,249 1,449,365 1,410,849
    40 and older 59,696 61,188 60,927 64,615 66,770 67,169
  Hispanic 886,210 886,467 866,713 885,916 937,421 945,200
    Younger than 25 275,553 270,948 258,635 255,806 264,310 266,416
    25–39 579,553 584,109 576,690 597,703 637,735 642,429
    40 and older 31,104 31,410 31,388 32,407 35,376 36,355
Number of maternal deaths
Total1 658 754 861 1,205 817 669
    Younger than 25 96 111 114 163 113 95
    25–39 458 544 607 854 578 486
    40 and older 104 98 140 188 126 88
  Asian, non-Hispanic2 32 33 27 36 29 23
    Younger than 25 * * * * * *
    25–39 25 28 20 24 21 17
    40 and older * * * * * *
  Black, non-Hispanic2 206 241 293 362 253 247
    Younger than 25 27 32 46 62 44 37
    25–39 137 179 198 242 172 181
    40 and older 42 30 49 58 37 29
  White, non-Hispanic2 291 343 352 503 350 259
    Younger than 25 41 49 40 57 35 26
    25–39 207 248 253 364 259 195
    40 and older 43 46 59 82 56 38
  Hispanic 105 112 158 248 158 117
    Younger than 25 21 23 20 36 25 27
    25–39 72 71 111 184 108 77
    40 and older 12 18 27 28 25 13
Maternal mortality rate3
Total1 17.4 20.1 23.8 32.9 22.3 18.6
    Younger than 25 10.6 12.6 13.8 20.4 14.4 12.5
    25–39 16.6 19.9 22.8 31.3 21.1 18.1
    40 and older 81.9 75.5 107.9 138.5 87.1 59.8
  Asian, non-Hispanic2 13.3 13.8 12.3 16.8 13.2 10.7
    Younger than 25 * * * * * *
    25–39 11.8 13.3 10.4 12.7 10.9 8.9
    40 and older * * * * * *
  Black, non-Hispanic2 37.3 44.0 55.3 69.9 49.5 50.3
    Younger than 25 15.3 18.8 28.8 41.5 31.3 28.0
    25–39 38.2 49.7 56.3 69.3 49.2 53.6
    40 and older 239.9 166.5 263.1 300.8 174.5 132.9
  White, non-Hispanic2 14.9 17.9 19.1 26.6 19.0 14.5
    Younger than 25 10.5 13.1 11.5 16.9 10.8 8.4
    25–39 13.8 16.8 17.6 24.5 17.9 13.8
    40 and older 72.0 75.2 96.8 126.9 83.9 56.6
  Hispanic 11.8 12.6 18.2 28.0 16.9 12.4
    Younger than 25 7.6 8.5 7.7 14.1 9.5 10.1
    25–39 12.4 12.2 19.2 30.8 16.9 12.0
    40 and older 38.6 57.3 86.0 86.4 70.7 35.8
* Estimate does not meet National Center for Health Statistics standards of reliability.
1Total includes deaths for race and Hispanic-origin groups not shown separately, including women of multiple races and Hispanic origin not stated.
2Race groups are single race.
3Maternal mortality rates are deaths per 100,000 live births.
NOTES: Maternal causes are those assigned to codes A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99 of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. Maternal deaths occur while pregnant or within 42 days of being pregnant. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
SOURCES: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality and natality data files.