Maternal Deaths are Down – For Everyone Except African Americans

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its updated stats report in February 2025 on maternal mortality in the United States for 2023, revealing both some positive trends, but also some persistent disparities.

The CDC defines maternal death 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.” Maternal mortality rates are calculated as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.

The overall maternal mortality rate decreased to 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, down from 22.3 in 2022. This decline represents a reduction from 817 maternal deaths in 2022 to 669 in 2023.

Despite this overall improvement, significant racial disparities remain. The maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023, which is significantly higher than the rates for non-Hispanic white women (14.5), Hispanic women (12.4), and non-Hispanic Asian women (10.7).

While the decrease in mortality rates for non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women between 2022 and 2023 was statistically significant, the observed decreases for non-Hispanic Asian women and the increase for non-Hispanic Black women were not statistically significant.

A recent article from Axios, with reference back to a 2023 article, centers on a study published in The Lancet which found that Black women in areas with greater access to maternal healthcare still face disproportionately higher risks of maternal mortality, compared to white women living in underserved areas.

The study uses the U.S. Maternal Vulnerability Index, a system that assigns a score from 0 to 100 to each state and county, with lower scores indicating lower vulnerability to adverse maternal health outcomes. By analyzing data from 13 million births of Black and white women aged 10–44, researchers found that even in less vulnerable areas, Black women remained at higher risk of maternal mortality than white women residing in more vulnerable locations.

Age also continues to play a critical role in maternal mortality. In 2023, women 40 and older experienced a maternal mortality rate of 59.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, nearly five times higher than the rate for women younger than 25, which stood at 12.5. However, this rate is at a significant decrease from 2022, when it was 87.1.

In summary, while the overall decline in maternal mortality rates in 2023 is a positive development, the persistent and significant disparities among different racial and age groups, particularly Black women and women over 40, demonstrate the value in utilizing targeted intervention strategies.