Maternal death rates in the UK show slight improvement for 2021-23

Published on Thursday, 09 January 2025 Post

The latest set of data presented by the MBRRACE-UK Collaboration investigation into maternal deaths in the UK shows that the mortality rate for women who died during or soon after pregnancy decreased slightly in 2021-23 when compared with women who died in 2020-22.

The investigation, which is led by Oxford Population Health's National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, includes data on all women in the UK who died between January 2021 and December 2023 during pregnancy or within six weeks after their pregnancy had ended. These data have been published ahead of the full Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care confidential enquiry report, which will be published later this year.

The key data show that:

• In 2021-23, 254 women died during or soon after pregnancy among 2,004,184 maternities, meaning that the rate of maternal death for this period was 12.67 per 100,000 maternities. This represents a statistically non-significant* decrease in the maternal death rate when compared with the previous three-year period (13.41 deaths per 100,000 maternities in 2020-22);
• Maternal death rates remain statistically non-significantly higher than the last complete three-year period of 2018-20 (10.9 per 100,000 maternities). This was also the case when deaths due to COVID-19 were excluded;
• Blood clots continued to be the leading cause of maternal death in the UK during pregnancy or up to six weeks after the end of pregnancy. Heart disease was the second most common cause of death, followed by COVID-19. There were no maternal deaths as a result of COVID-19 in 2023;
• Rates for late maternal deaths that occurred between six weeks and one year after the end of pregnancy continued to increase and were statistically significantly higher in 2021-23 when compared with 2018-20. The leading causes of deaths in this period were mental health-related;
• Inequalities in maternal deaths remained in 2021-23. When compared with women aged 20-24, women aged 35 or older were three times more likely to die;
• Women living in the most deprived areas continued to have a maternal mortality rate twice that of women living in the least deprived areas;
• The maternal mortality rate for Black women continued to decrease in 2021-23, however Black women were statistically significantly twice as likely to die when compared with White women. Asian women and women from mixed ethnic backgrounds also had a slightly, statistically non-significant increased risk of death when compared with White women. Caution should be used when interpreting the figures for women from mixed ethnic backgrounds as low numbers mean the rate may be affected by random variation.

Professor Marian Knight, Director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit and MBRRACE-UK programme lead, said 'It is encouraging that the overall maternal death rate has decreased in the UK as well as some of the disparities in maternal mortality between women from different population groups. However, it is important to note that there remains a lot of work to be done to ensure safe and equitable care for all women. The pressures on the UK maternity care system are not easing and critical action continues to be required.' The data brief is published on the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit website.