Deaths due to COVID-19 have had a minimal impact on this figure, emphasising the importance of a renewed focus on efforts to tackle maternal mortality. The rate of direct maternal deaths, due to conditions occurring as a result of pregnancy, including blood clots, bleeding and pre-eclampsia, increased by 52%. Indirect maternal deaths, caused by pre-existing conditions exacerbated by pregnancy or care received during pregnancy are largely unchanged, increasing by 3% over this time.
This investigation, which is led by the Nuffield Department of Population Health’s National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, includes data on all women in the UK who died between January 2022 and December 2024 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 in September of this year.
The key data show that:
- In 2022-24, 252 women died from direct or indirect causes during or soon after pregnancy among 1,969,321 maternities, meaning that the rate of maternal death for this period was 12.80 per 100,000 maternities. This is not statistically significantly* different when compared with the maternal death rate in 2021-23 (12.82 deaths per 100,000 maternities);
- The number of deaths due to COVID-19 dropped significantly with only six women dying from COVID-19 complications in 2022-24. When deaths due to COVID-19 were excluded, rates of overall and indirect maternal deaths remained statistically significantly increased in 2022-24 compared to the corresponding rates in 2019-21, the last complete triennium.
Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Population Health website.