Maternal Mortality Rates in the United States, 2024

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NCHS Health E-Stat 113, March 2026

by Donna L. Hoyert, Ph.D.

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This report presents maternal mortality for 2024 based on data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) (1). A maternal death is defined 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” (2). Maternal mortality rates—the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births—are shown in this report by age group and race and Hispanic origin.

In 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the United States, compared with 669 in 2023 (1) (Figure 1, Table). The maternal mortality rate for 2024, 17.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, was not significantly lower than the rate of 18.6 in 2023.

In 2024, the maternal mortality rate for Black non-Hispanic (subsequently, Black) women was 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, which was significantly higher than the rates for White non-Hispanic (subsequently, White) (14.2), Hispanic (12.1), and Asian non-Hispanic (subsequently, Asian) (18.1) women (Figure 2, Table). The observed decreases in 2024 for Black, White, and Hispanic women and the increase for Asian women were not significant.

In 2024, maternal mortality rates were 13.7 deaths per 100,000 live births for women younger than age 25, 16.5 for those ages 25–39, and 62.3 for those age 40 and older (Figure 3, Table). The rate for women age 40 and older was five times higher than the rate for women younger than age 25. Differences in the rates between women younger than age 25 and ages 25–39 compared with women age 40 and older were significant, while differences between women younger than age 25 and ages 25–39 were not. The observed decrease for women ages 25–39 and the increases for women younger than age 25 and age 40 and older between 2023 and 2024 were not significant.

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Data source and methods

Data are from the NVSS mortality file (3). Consistent with previous reports, the number of maternal deaths does not include all deaths of pregnant women or of recently pregnant women, but only those deaths with the underlying cause of death assigned to International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99. Maternal mortality rates are per 100,000 live births. Births are based on data from the NVSS natality file. Maternal mortality rates fluctuate from year to year because of the relatively small number of these events, and possibly because of issues with the accuracy of reporting maternal deaths on death certificates (4). Efforts to improve data quality are ongoing, and these data will continue to be evaluated for possible errors. Data are shown for only the largest race and Hispanic-origin groups for which statistically reliable rates can be calculated, and numbers and rates are suppressed for those groups for which statistically reliable rates cannot be calculated (5). Additional details and data on provisional maternal mortality rates are available (6,7).

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References

  1. Hoyert DL. Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2023. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2025 Feb;1–7. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/174577.
  2. World Health Organization. International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision. 2008 ed. 2009.
  3. Xu JQ, Murphy SL, Kochanek KD, Arias E. Mortality in the United States, 2024. NCHS Data Brief. 2026 Jan;(548):1–14. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/174641.
  4. Hoyert DL, Miniño AM. Maternal mortality in the United States: Changes in coding, publication, and data release, 2018. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2020 Jan 30;69(2):1–18.
  5. Xu JQ, Murphy SL, Kochanek KD, Arias E. Deaths: Final data for 2022. Natl Vital Stat Rep. 2025 Jun 10;74(4):1–138. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/174588.
  6. National Center for Health Statistics. Maternal mortality. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/maternal-mortality/index.htm.
  7. National Center for Health Statistics. Provisional maternal mortality rates. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/provisional-maternal-deaths-rates.htm.
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Suggested citation

Hoyert DL. Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2024. NCHS Health E-Stats. 2026 Mar;(113):1–7. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc/174651.

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Figures

Figure 1 is a line graph of the maternal mortality rate in the United States in 2018–2024.
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Figure 2 is a bar chart of the maternal mortality rate by race and Hispanic origin in the United States in 2023 and 2024.
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Figure 3 is a bar chart of the maternal mortality rate by age group in the United States in 2023 and 2024.
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Table

Table. Number of live births and maternal deaths, and maternal mortality rate, by race and Hispanic origin and age: United States, 2018–2024
Race and Hispanic origin and age 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Number of live births
Total1 3,791,712 3,747,540 3,613,647 3,664,292 3,667,758 3,596,017 3,628,934
Younger than 25 907,782 877,803 825,403 797,334 784,299 759,713 750,800
25–39 2,756,974 2,739,976 2,658,445 2,731,223 2,738,802 2,689,250 2,725,743
40 and older 126,956 129,761 129,799 135,735 144,657 147,054 152,391
Asian, non-Hispanic2 240,798 238,769 219,068 213,813 218,994 215,738 226,860
Younger than 25 16,338 15,071 12,993 11,149 11,002 10,352 10,025
25–39 211,331 210,177 193,139 189,405 193,025 190,128 200,513
40 and older 13,129 13,521 12,936 13,259 14,967 15,258 16,322
Black, non-Hispanic2 552,029 548,075 529,811 517,889 511,439 491,494 473,377
Younger than 25 176,243 169,853 159,541 149,435 140,498 131,977 123,063
25–39 358,276 360,206 351,648 349,170 349,740 337,697 327,982
40 and older 17,510 18,016 18,622 19,284 21,201 21,820 22,332
White, non-Hispanic2 1,956,413 1,915,912 1,843,432 1,887,656 1,840,739 1,787,051 1,783,156
Younger than 25 391,829 374,129 348,666 336,792 324,604 309,033 301,335
25–39 1,504,888 1,480,595 1,433,839 1,486,249 1,449,365 1,410,849 1,412,086
40 and older 59,696 61,188 60,927 64,615 66,770 67,169 69,735
Hispanic 886,210 886,467 866,713 885,916 937,421 945,200 984,092
Younger than 25 275,553 270,948 258,635 255,806 264,310 266,416 274,850
25–39 579,553 584,109 576,690 597,703 637,735 642,429 672,341
40 and older 31,104 31,410 31,388 32,407 35,376 36,355 36,901
Number of maternal deaths
Total1 658 754 861 1,205 817 669 649
Younger than 25 96 111 114 163 113 95 103
25–39 458 544 607 854 578 486 451
40 and older 104 98 140 188 126 88 95
Asian, non-Hispanic2 32 33 27 36 29 23 41
Younger than 25 * * * * * * *
25–39 25 28 20 24 21 17 34
40 and older * * * * * * *
Black, non-Hispanic2 206 241 293 362 253 247 212
Younger than 25 27 32 46 62 44 37 35
25–39 137 179 198 242 172 181 144
40 and older 42 30 49 58 37 29 33
White, non-Hispanic2 291 343 352 503 350 259 254
Younger than 25 41 49 40 57 35 26 30
25–39 207 248 253 364 259 195 183
40 and older 43 46 59 82 56 38 41
Hispanic 105 112 158 248 158 117 119
Younger than 25 21 23 20 36 25 27 31
25–39 72 71 111 184 108 77 75
40 and older 12 18 27 28 25 13 13
Maternal mortality rate3
Total1 17.4 20.1 23.8 32.9 22.3 18.6 17.9
Younger than 25 10.6 12.6 13.8 20.4 14.4 12.5 13.7
25–39 16.6 19.9 22.8 31.3 21.1 18.1 16.5
40 and older 81.9 75.5 107.9 138.5 87.1 59.8 62.3
Asian, non-Hispanic2 13.3 13.8 12.3 16.8 13.2 10.7 18.1
Younger than 25 * * * * * * *
25–39 11.8 13.3 10.4 12.7 10.9 8.9 17.0
40 and older * * * * * * *
Black, non-Hispanic2 37.3 44.0 55.3 69.9 49.5 50.3 44.8
Younger than 25 15.3 18.8 28.8 41.5 31.3 28.0 28.4
25–39 38.2 49.7 56.3 69.3 49.2 53.6 43.9
40 and older 239.9 166.5 263.1 300.8 174.5 132.9 147.8
White, non-Hispanic2 14.9 17.9 19.1 26.6 19.0 14.5 14.2
Younger than 25 10.5 13.1 11.5 16.9 10.8 8.4 10.0
25–39 13.8 16.8 17.6 24.5 17.9 13.8 13.0
40 and older 72.0 75.2 96.8 126.9 83.9 56.6 58.8
Hispanic 11.8 12.6 18.2 28.0 16.9 12.4 12.1
Younger than 25 7.6 8.5 7.7 14.1 9.5 10.1 11.3
25–39 12.4 12.2 19.2 30.8 16.9 12.0 11.2
40 and older 38.6 57.3 86.0 86.4 70.7 35.8 35.2

* Estimate does not meet National Center for Health Statistics standards of reliability.
1Total includes deaths for race and Hispanic-origin groups not shown separately, including women of multiple races and origin not stated.
2Race groups are single race.
3Maternal mortality rates are deaths per 100,000 live births.
NOTES: Maternal causes are those assigned to categories A34, O00–O95, and O98–O99 of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision. Maternal deaths occur while pregnant or within 42 days of being pregnant. People of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
SOURCES: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System, mortality and natality data files.

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