Maternal mortality rate in 2021 significantly higher than previous years

Key takeaways:

• There were 1,205 maternal deaths in 2021 vs. 861 in 2020.
• The maternal death rate was 2.6 times higher in Black vs. white people.

The maternal death rate significantly increased in 2021, with rates among Black people more than double that of their white counterparts, according to data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Previous research has indicated that maternal mortality rates have risen in recent years, especially for Black and Hispanic people.

Donna L. Hoyert, PhD, a researcher with the CDC’s division of vital statistics, reported that 1,205 women in the United States died of maternal causes in 2021, yielding a maternal mortality rate of 32.9 deaths per 100,000 live births. In comparison, 861 women died of maternal causes in 2020 (23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births) and 754 died in 2019 (20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births).

“Maternal mortality rates fluctuate from year to year because of the relatively small number of these events and possibly due to issues with the reporting of maternal deaths on death certificates,” Hoyert wrote. “Efforts to improve data quality are ongoing, and these data will continue to be evaluated for possible errors.”

Hoyert also noted substantial disparities. For example, 2021’s maternal mortality rate for Black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 births — 2.6 times higher than the rate for white women (26.6 deaths per 100,000 births). Additionally, rates increased with maternal age: the rate for women aged 40 years and older was nearly seven times higher than for women aged younger than 25 years. For women aged younger than 25 years, there were 20.4 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2021 vs. 31.3 for those aged 25 to 39 years and 138.5 for those aged 40 years and older.