What is the difference in maternal mortality ratio between China and Iran?

1.03 deaths per 100,000 live births, with China ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for China and Iran?

36 years are reported by both, from 1985 to 2020.

Where does this data come from?

UN MMEIG (2023) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Maternal mortality ratio. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

China vs Iran: Maternal mortality ratio

China

23.05 deaths per 100,000 live births

in 2020

Iran

22.02 deaths per 100,000 live births

in 2020

China rank

117th

Iran rank

118th

Maternal mortality ratio over time

China
Iran

How they compare

China currently reports 23.05 deaths per 100,000 live births against 22.02 deaths per 100,000 live births in Iran, a difference of 1.03 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The two have swapped places 6 times across 36 shared years of data; in 1985 it was China ahead.

China ranks 117th and Iran ranks 118th of 185 countries.

China has averaged higher in every one of the 5 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	China	Iran	Difference	Ahead
1980s	99.14 deaths per 100,000 live births	94.87 deaths per 100,000 live births	4.27 deaths per 100,000 live births	China
1990s	75.66 deaths per 100,000 live births	60.36 deaths per 100,000 live births	15.3 deaths per 100,000 live births	China
2000s	45.9 deaths per 100,000 live births	36.31 deaths per 100,000 live births	9.59 deaths per 100,000 live births	China
2010s	25.99 deaths per 100,000 live births	22.12 deaths per 100,000 live births	3.87 deaths per 100,000 live births	China
2020s	23.05 deaths per 100,000 live births	22.02 deaths per 100,000 live births	1.03 deaths per 100,000 live births	China

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher maternal mortality ratio, China or Iran?: China, at 23.05 deaths per 100,000 live births against 22.02 deaths per 100,000 live births in Iran as of 2020.
What is the difference in maternal mortality ratio between China and Iran?: 1.03 deaths per 100,000 live births, with China ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and Iran?: 36 years are reported by both, from 1985 to 2020.
How do China and Iran rank globally for maternal mortality ratio?: China ranks 117th and Iran ranks 118th of 185 countries.
Where does this data come from?: UN MMEIG (2023) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Maternal mortality ratio. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

China vs Iran: Maternal mortality ratio. Statizoid, drawing on UN MMEIG (2023) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 30 August 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/compare/maternal-mortality-ratio-vs-gdp-per-capita/china/iran-islamic-rep/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://health.statizoid.com/compare/maternal-mortality-ratio-vs-gdp-per-capita/china/iran-islamic-rep/">China vs Iran: Maternal mortality ratio</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Maternal mortality ratio
Unit: deaths per 100,000 live births
Source: UN MMEIG (2023) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 185 places, 6,660 data points, 1985–2020
Last refreshed: 28 August 2026

The estimated maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.