The maternal mortality ratio in 1985 and 2020 by country

Countries reporting
185
Highest
1,223
South Sudan, Republic of
Lowest
1.1
Belarus, Republic of
Median
59.08
Years covered
36
1985–2020
Data points
6,660

What the numbers show

The maternal mortality ratio in 1985 and 2020 is currently reported for 185 countries. The highest value is 1,223 in South Sudan, Republic of; the lowest is 1.1 in Belarus, Republic of.

The median across all reporting countries is 59.08, and the mean is 143.35.

The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 1,109.

Over the past decade 36 countries rose and 149 fell. The largest increase was in Belize (up 297.0%), and the largest decrease in Eswatini, Kingdom of (down 64.3%).

The maternal mortality ratio in 1985 and 2020: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 South Sudan, Republic of 1,223 2020 up 15.4% volatile
2 Chad 1,063 2020 down 18.4% falling
3 Nigeria 1,047 2020 down 6.7% falling
4 Central African Republic 835.27 2020 down 20.6% falling
5 Guinea-Bissau 725.09 2020 down 8.7% falling
6 Liberia 652.34 2020 up 2.9% falling
7 Somalia 620.68 2020 down 35.6% falling
8 Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of 620.41 2020 down 31.0% falling
9 Lesotho, Kingdom of 566.21 2020 down 45.6% rising
10 Guinea 553.4 2020 down 25.3% falling
11 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 547.36 2020 down 9.0% falling
12 Kenya 529.96 2020 up 11.5% falling
13 Benin 522.61 2020 down 12.6% falling
14 Burundi 494.43 2020 down 18.7% falling
15 Côte d'Ivoire 479.91 2020 down 20.6% falling
16 Mauritania, Islamic Republic of 463.83 2020 down 20.9% falling
17 Gambia, The 458.24 2020 down 26.1% falling
18 Sierra Leone 442.83 2020 down 47.1% falling
19 Niger 441.07 2020 down 25.7% falling
20 Mali 440.23 2020 down 19.5% falling
21 Cameroon 437.75 2020 down 16.9% falling
22 Togo 399.04 2020 down 24.8% falling
23 Madagascar, Republic of 391.52 2020 down 21.2% falling
24 Malawi 380.67 2020 down 25.8% falling
25 Zimbabwe 356.76 2020 down 42.3% rising
26 Haiti 350.4 2020 down 13.0% falling
27 Eritrea, The State of 321.55 2020 down 33.0% volatile
28 Uganda 284.14 2020 down 23.6% falling
29 Congo, Republic of 282.39 2020 down 27.4% falling
30 Sudan 270.36 2020 down 29.5% volatile
31 Ethiopia, The Federal Democratic Republic of 266.69 2020 down 58.0% falling
32 Burkina Faso 263.75 2020 down 26.2% falling
33 Ghana 263.11 2020 down 21.9% falling
34 Senegal 260.88 2020 down 42.0% falling
35 Venezuela, República Bolivariana de 259.19 2020 up 131.0% rising
36 Rwanda 258.93 2020 down 32.9% volatile
37 Eswatini, Kingdom of 239.63 2020 down 64.3% falling
38 Tanzania, United Republic of 238.3 2020 down 51.0% falling
39 Djibouti 234.49 2020 down 14.3% falling
40 Gabon 226.55 2020 up 17.5% falling
41 Angola 221.91 2020 down 39.6% falling
42 Cambodia 217.98 2020 down 21.1% falling
43 Comoros, Union of the 216.95 2020 down 31.4% falling
44 Namibia 214.63 2020 down 55.4% falling
45 Equatorial Guinea, Republic of 212.33 2020 up 0.5% volatile
46 Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of 203.92 2020 down 45.8% volatile
47 Papua New Guinea 191.84 2020 down 33.6% falling
48 Botswana 185.9 2020 up 19.2% falling
49 Yemen, Republic of 183.4 2020 up 17.1% falling
50 Myanmar 178.67 2020 down 39.0% falling
51 Nepal 174.41 2020 down 50.1% volatile
52 Indonesia 172.92 2020 down 21.0% falling
53 Bolivia 160.91 2020 down 12.6% falling
54 Pakistan 154.16 2020 down 33.1% falling
55 São Tomé and Príncipe, Democratic Republic of 146.24 2020 down 8.7% falling
56 Zambia 134.66 2020 down 49.8% falling
57 Belize 129.79 2020 up 297.0% falling
58 Mozambique, Republic of 127.11 2020 down 60.5% volatile
59 South Africa 126.83 2020 down 42.1% flat
60 Lao People's Democratic Republic 126.06 2020 down 55.5% falling
61 Tonga 125.64 2020 up 34.8% falling
62 Bangladesh 123.03 2020 down 59.1% volatile
63 Solomon Islands 122.25 2020 down 16.9% falling
64 Guyana 111.94 2020 down 24.3% falling
65 Dominican Republic 107.35 2020 up 17.0% falling
66 Korea, Democratic People's Republic of 106.7 2020 down 18.1% rising
67 India 102.65 2020 down 42.5% falling
68 Jamaica 98.88 2020 up 12.7% rising
69 Suriname 96.46 2020 down 30.3% falling
70 Guatemala 95.5 2020 down 22.6% falling
71 Vanuatu 94.44 2020 up 1.5% falling
72 Mauritius 84.36 2020 up 53.2% falling
73 Philippines 78.24 2020 down 25.5% falling
74 Nicaragua 77.88 2020 down 20.4% falling
75 Algeria 77.69 2020 down 30.5% falling
76 Bahamas, The 77.05 2020 down 2.3% rising
77 Kiribati 76.33 2020 down 41.6% falling
78 Iraq 76.11 2020 down 33.7% falling
79 Colombia 74.76 2020 up 5.9% falling
80 Micronesia, Federated States of 74.31 2020 up 62.5% falling
81 St. Lucia 73.27 2020 down 0.1% rising
82 Brazil 72.15 2020 up 13.0% volatile
83 Libya 72.13 2020 up 25.5% rising
84 Morocco 71.85 2020 down 46.3% volatile
85 Honduras 71.82 2020 down 1.9% falling
86 Paraguay 71.12 2020 down 29.2% falling
87 Peru 68.54 2020 down 10.3% volatile
88 Cyprus 68.41 2020 up 155.4% rising
89 Ecuador 65.75 2020 down 13.7% falling
90 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 61.79 2020 up 38.5% falling
91 Bhutan 59.95 2020 down 48.6% volatile
92 Mexico 59.13 2020 up 15.4% falling
93 Samoa 59.08 2020 down 4.1% falling
94 Maldives 56.69 2020 down 5.2% volatile
95 Kyrgyz Republic 50.38 2020 down 29.7% falling
96 Panama 49.52 2020 down 9.8% falling
97 Vietnam 45.53 2020 down 24.2% falling
98 Argentina 44.9 2020 down 18.5% falling
99 Brunei Darussalam 44.24 2020 up 5.8% falling
100 El Salvador 42.79 2020 up 19.5% volatile
101 Cabo Verde 42.24 2020 down 21.7% volatile
102 Jordan 41.31 2020 down 11.4% falling
103 Azerbaijan, Republic of 40.76 2020 up 24.2% falling
104 Mongolia 39.49 2020 down 39.7% volatile
105 Cuba 39.25 2020 down 4.4% falling
106 Barbados 39.11 2020 down 26.6% falling
107 Fiji, Republic of 38.05 2020 down 8.5% falling
108 Tunisia 36.63 2020 down 16.6% falling
109 Puerto Rico 34.34 2020 up 61.6% falling
110 Uzbekistan, Republic of 30.18 2020 down 20.1% falling
111 Syrian Arab Republic 29.92 2020 up 40.5% falling
112 Sri Lanka 28.84 2020 down 22.6% falling
113 Thailand 28.6 2020 down 19.1% falling
114 Georgia 27.61 2020 down 32.6% falling
115 Armenia, Republic of 27.19 2020 down 18.1% falling
116 Trinidad and Tobago 26.58 2020 down 43.2% falling
117 China, People's Republic of 23.05 2020 down 30.6% falling
118 Iran, Islamic Republic of 22.02 2020 down 30.3% volatile
119 Costa Rica 22 2020 down 17.2% falling
120 Antigua and Barbuda 21.25 2020 down 31.0% falling
121 Grenada 21.14 2020 down 22.7% falling
122 Malaysia 21.13 2020 down 17.1% falling
123 United States 21.08 2020 up 49.8% rising
124 Lebanon 20.62 2020 up 14.6% volatile
125 Palestine, State of 20.43 2020 down 53.0% falling
126 Uruguay 18.64 2020 up 5.0% falling
127 Latvia 18.32 2020 down 27.9% falling
128 Türkiye 17.33 2020 down 21.5% falling
129 Oman 17.01 2020 down 6.0% falling
130 Egypt, Arab Republic of 16.82 2020 down 55.9% volatile
131 Tajikistan, Republic of 16.63 2020 down 47.8% volatile
132 Ukraine 16.54 2020 down 2.1% volatile
133 Saudi Arabia 16.2 2020 up 5.6% falling
134 Bahrain, Kingdom of 15.9 2020 down 19.8% falling
135 Hungary 15.05 2020 up 0.3% falling
136 Chile 15.03 2020 down 35.7% volatile
137 Russia 13.72 2020 down 20.1% volatile
138 Kazakhstan, Republic of 13.38 2020 down 31.8% volatile
139 Moldova, Republic of 12.26 2020 down 32.3% volatile
140 Portugal 11.8 2020 up 19.2% falling
141 Canada 11.01 2020 down 7.8% rising
142 Serbia, Republic of 10.18 2020 down 28.5% falling
143 Romania 10.07 2020 down 54.7% volatile
144 United Kingdom 9.84 2020 up 3.3% flat
145 United Arab Emirates 9.34 2020 up 2.0% falling
146 Lithuania 8.66 2020 down 10.5% falling
147 Finland 8.34 2020 up 18.7% rising
148 Albania 8.28 2020 down 2.8% volatile
149 Korea 8.12 2020 down 1.5% volatile
150 France 7.91 2020 down 14.6% falling
151 Greece 7.65 2020 up 123.1% falling
152 Qatar 7.61 2020 down 24.6% falling
153 Singapore 7.45 2020 down 10.3% falling
154 Switzerland 7.38 2020 down 9.1% falling
155 Kuwait 7.17 2020 down 21.9% falling
156 Bulgaria 7.09 2020 down 31.2% falling
157 New Zealand 7.03 2020 down 28.9% falling
158 Luxembourg 6.49 2020 down 21.6% falling
159 Montenegro 6.17 2020 down 14.1% falling
160 Bosnia and Herzegovina 5.67 2020 down 26.3% volatile
161 Austria 5.23 2020 down 12.2% falling
162 Estonia 5.18 2020 down 36.1% volatile
163 Turkmenistan 5.15 2020 down 41.7% volatile
164 Ireland 4.98 2020 down 23.9% falling
165 Slovak Republic 4.82 2020 down 5.2% falling
166 Croatia 4.82 2020 down 33.4% falling
167 Belgium 4.76 2020 down 19.7% falling
168 Denmark 4.66 2020 down 28.6% falling
169 Italy 4.59 2020 down 31.8% falling
170 Slovenia 4.53 2020 down 24.9% falling
171 Sweden 4.51 2020 down 0.5% falling
172 Germany 4.43 2020 down 28.1% falling
173 Japan 4.31 2020 down 23.7% falling
174 Netherlands 4.31 2020 down 31.2% falling
175 Spain 3.44 2020 down 12.2% falling
176 Czechia 3.37 2020 down 20.8% volatile
177 Seychelles 3.33 2020 down 59.4% volatile
178 North Macedonia 3.04 2020 down 52.0% falling
179 Australia 2.94 2020 down 46.0% falling
180 Malta 2.89 2020 down 45.6% falling
181 Israel 2.84 2020 down 4.3% volatile
182 Iceland 2.65 2020 down 9.3% falling
183 Poland 1.96 2020 down 22.8% volatile
184 Norway 1.66 2020 down 58.6% falling
185 Belarus, Republic of 1.1 2020 down 59.3% volatile

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The maternal mortality ratio in 1985 and 2020 by country. Statizoid, drawing on Our World in Data. Retrieved 19 August 2026, from https://health.statizoid.com/stat/the-maternal-mortality-ratio-in-1985-and-2020/

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About this data

Indicator
The maternal mortality ratio in 1985 and 2020
Source
Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
185 places, 6,660 data points, 1985–2020
Last refreshed