Maternal mortality, distribution of preventability U.S. 2019

From 2017 to 2019, it was determined that 82.4 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. That is, there was a least some chance of the maternal death being averted by one of more reasonable changes to patient, community, provider, facility, and/or systems factors. The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, and maternal mortality is disproportionally high among non-Hispanic Black women. This statistic shows the percentage of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. that were preventable from 2017 to 2019.

Percentage of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. that were preventable from 2017 to 2019

Characteristic	Percentage of pregnancy-related deaths
Preventable	84.2%
Not preventable	15.8%

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Release date

September 2022

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2017-2019

Number of respondents

1,018 respondents

Supplementary notes

A death is considered preventable if the committee determines that there was at least some chance of the death being averted by one or more reasonable changes to patient, community, provider, facility, and/or systems factors.

Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs) are multidisciplinary committees that convene at the state or local level to comprehensively review deaths during or within a year of pregnancy (pregnancy-associated deaths). Data on 1,018 pregnancy-related deaths among residents of 36 states from 2017–2019 were shared with CDC through the Maternal Mortality Review Information Application (MMRIA).

A preventability determination was missing (n=4) or unable to be determined (n=18) for a total of 22 (2.2%) pregnancy-related deaths.

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