Maternal Health "The United States (U.S.) fares worse in preventing pregnancy-related deaths than most other developed nations. Despite participation in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and spending more than any other country on hospital-based maternity care, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the U.S. remains at about 17 deaths per 100,000 live births. Between 2000 and 2017, the global MMR decreased by 38%. The U.S. has also failed to meet prior national goals for maternal mortality reduction and did not meet the modest Healthy People 2020 goal of reducing maternal mortality by 10% between 2007 and 2020. ...The most notable disparity in mortality rates in the U.S. is defined by race: Black women die at a rate that ranges from three to four times the rate of their white counterparts—41 deaths per 100,000 live births among black women versus 13 deaths per 100,000 live births among white women as of 2010; this difference in risk has remained unchanged for the past six decades." Source: Maternal Health in the United States Maternal Health Task Force at the the Harvard Chan School.