Data / Rankings / Maternal mortality ratio / Countries

Countries by maternal mortality ratio

South Sudan had the highest maternal mortality ratio of 195 countries in 2017, at 1,662 per 100,000 live births. Cook Islands had the lowest, at 0 per 100,000 live births. The median was 47 per 100,000 live births. Source: World Health Organization.

Highest1,662South Sudan
Lowest0Cook Islands
Median47195 countries

Top 40 countries, 2017

South Sudan: 1,662 per 100,000 live birthsSouth Sudan1,662Nigeria: 1,142 per 100,000 live birthsNigeria1,142Central African Republic: 1,093 per 100,000 live birthsCentral African Republic1,093Chad: 1,085 per 100,000 live birthsChad1,085Somalia: 716 per 100,000 live birthsSomalia716Liberia: 703 per 100,000 live birthsLiberia703Afghanistan: 659 per 100,000 live birthsAfghanistan659Guinea-Bissau: 597 per 100,000 live birthsGuinea-Bissau597Benin: 592 per 100,000 live birthsBenin592Guinea: 582 per 100,000 live birthsGuinea582Sierra Leone: 578 per 100,000 live birthsSierra Leone578Democratic Republic of the Congo: 519 per 100,000 live birthsDemocratic Republic of the Congo519Burundi: 482 per 100,000 live birthsBurundi482Madagascar: 469 per 100,000 live birthsMadagascar469Gambia: 469 per 100,000 live birthsGambia469Lesotho: 468 per 100,000 live birthsLesotho468Côte d’Ivoire: 465 per 100,000 live birthsCôte d’Ivoire465Mali: 453 per 100,000 live birthsMali453Mauritania: 450 per 100,000 live birthsMauritania450Togo: 443 per 100,000 live birthsTogo443Niger: 433 per 100,000 live birthsNiger433Kenya: 428 per 100,000 live birthsKenya428Zimbabwe: 389 per 100,000 live birthsZimbabwe389Eritrea: 379 per 100,000 live birthsEritrea379Cameroon: 372 per 100,000 live birthsCameroon372Haiti: 351 per 100,000 live birthsHaiti351Tanzania: 345 per 100,000 live birthsTanzania345Ethiopia: 327 per 100,000 live birthsEthiopia327Senegal: 325 per 100,000 live birthsSenegal325Burkina Faso: 298 per 100,000 live birthsBurkina Faso298Ghana: 287 per 100,000 live birthsGhana287Malawi: 284 per 100,000 live birthsMalawi284Sudan: 277 per 100,000 live birthsSudan277Rwanda: 275 per 100,000 live birthsRwanda275Timor-Leste: 269 per 100,000 live birthsTimor-Leste269Republic of the Congo: 262 per 100,000 live birthsRepublic of the Congo262Nauru: 259 per 100,000 live birthsNauru259Uganda: 246 per 100,000 live birthsUganda246Angola: 220 per 100,000 live birthsAngola220Comoros: 219 per 100,000 live birthsComoros219
per 100,000 live births. Source: World Health Organization, Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCountries2017
per 100,000 live births		Change on 2016
1South Sudan1,662+32.1
2Nigeria1,142-13.4
3Central African Republic1,093+131
4Chad1,085-48.3
5Somalia716-38.2
6Liberia703+13.1
7Afghanistan659-43.7
8Guinea-Bissau597-20
9Benin592-12.5
10Guinea582-23.9
11Sierra Leone578-54.5
12Democratic Republic of the Congo519-7.4
13Burundi482-18.8
14Madagascar469-1.2
15Gambia469-20.9
16Lesotho468-49.3
17Côte d’Ivoire465-22.5
18Mali453-18.7
19Mauritania450-6.1
20Togo443-16.7
21Niger433-17.4
22Kenya428-13.4
23Zimbabwe389-22
24Eritrea379-15.5
25Cameroon372-21.1
26Haiti351-5.5
27Tanzania345-50.3
28Ethiopia327-36.9
29Senegal325-19.9
30Burkina Faso298-14.6
31Ghana287-9.2
32Malawi284-28
33Sudan277-11.6
34Rwanda275-3.1
35Timor-Leste269-17.7
36Republic of the Congo262-0.7
37Nauru259+11
38Uganda246-26.2
39Angola220-15.4
40Comoros219-6.7
41Namibia213-36.5
42Equatorial Guinea212-4.6
43Myanmar209-6.2
44Papua New Guinea207-6.8
45Djibouti201-3.4
46Nepal197-16.3
47Venezuela195+32.7
48Gabon184-30.7
49Pakistan184-9.2
50Marshall Islands179-4.4
51Bangladesh179-12
52Indonesia173-8.6
53Tuvalu171+0.8
54Micronesia171-2
55Bolivia160-2.4
56Mozambique156-14
57Cambodia155-4.5
58Laos154-11.2
59Eswatini151-61.5
60Yemen142+8
61Zambia141-16.7
62Solomon Islands140-2.6
63South Africa134-7.5
64India113-7.7
65Samoa111+2.9
66São Tomé and Príncipe110-9.2
67Guyana110-4.3
68Vanuatu107+0.1
69Guatemala107-3.2
70Jamaica106+3.4
71Suriname105-3.7
72Dominican Republic104-1.9
73Kiribati90+1.5
74Morocco88-6.2
75Philippines86-12.1
76Iraq81-5.7
77Palau80+0.6
78Bahamas79+1.8
79Algeria77-1.4
80Tonga77-1.1
81Saint Kitts and Nevis74-0.6
82Nicaragua72-4.3
83North Korea70-1.2
84Libya69-4.8
85Colombia68-0.8
86Peru67-2.1
87Mauritius66+3.6
88Ecuador62-3.2
89Brazil61-2.6
90Paraguay58-1.2
91Bhutan58-4.9
92Saint Vincent and the Grenadines58+6.1
93Belize56+4.4
94Vietnam55-1.3
95Honduras53-1.7
96Trinidad and Tobago51+0.6
97Kyrgyzstan49-4.5
98Seychelles47+0.2
99Panama470
100Botswana46-26
101Mongolia45-2.7
102Grenada45+0.9
103Mexico44+0.8
104El Salvador44+0.5
105Dominica44-4.2
106Saint Lucia43-2.9
107Cape Verde43-1.4
108Maldives41+0.2
109Brunei39-0.1
110Cuba39-1.2
111Argentina38-1.2
112Jordan38-2.1
113Tunisia38-1.1
114Barbados37+0.3
115Fiji34-3.4
116Thailand34-0.3
117Antigua and Barbuda31+3.2
118Uzbekistan30-0.5
119Malaysia29-0.3
120Costa Rica27-0
121Georgia27-1.1
122Armenia24-0.6
123China24-1.1
124Latvia23-0.2
125Syria23+0.1
126Azerbaijan22-0.5
127Sri Lanka21-0.1
128Egypt21-1.2
129Palestine21-2.2
130Iran20-0.8
131Moldova20-0.4
132Türkiye18-1
133United States18+0.1
134Tajikistan17-3.1
135Romania17-0.5
136Puerto Rico17+1.2
137Bahrain17-0.1
138Uruguay16+0.3
139Ukraine16-0.5
140Luxembourg15+2
141Lebanon15+0.1
142Oman14-0.1
143Hungary14+0.4
144Portugal13+1.3
145Serbia13-0.4
146Canada12+0.3
147Russia12-1.5
148Chile12-1.1
149Cyprus12+0.4
150Kazakhstan12-0.5
151Andorra11+1.3
152Lithuania10+0.4
153United Kingdom9-0.3
154France8-0.3
155Singapore8-0.2
156Saudi Arabia80
157Albania8-0.6
158Finland8+0.4
159Italy8+0.1
160Kuwait8-0
161New Zealand8-0.1
162Montenegro7+1.4
163Malta7-2.2
164San Marino7-0.2
165Bulgaria7-0.2
166Bosnia and Herzegovina70
167Austria6-0.2
168Switzerland6-0.5
169Australia6-0.3
170South Korea6-0.5
171Turkmenistan5-0.2
172Monaco5-0.1
173Estonia5-1.8
174Greece5+0.3
175Qatar5-0.3
176Netherlands5-0.3
177Slovakia5-0.2
178Japan5-0.2
179Slovenia5-0.2
180Belgium5-0.1
181Denmark5-0.5
182Sweden5-0
183Ireland4-0.1
184Germany4-0.2
185Croatia4-0.1
186North Macedonia4-0.3
187Spain3-0
188Iceland3-0.2
189Israel3-0.2
190United Arab Emirates3-0.1
191Czechia3-0.3
192Poland20
193Norway2-0.2
194Belarus1-0.1
195Cook Islands00

Other periods

About this ranking

Deaths of women from causes related to pregnancy or its management, during pregnancy or within 42 days of its end, per 100,000 live births in the year (SDG indicator 3.1.1). Accidental and incidental causes are excluded. Estimates of the UN Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UN DESA), published by WHO.

Modelled estimates that adjust registered deaths for misclassification and under-reporting, so they differ from national vital statistics, often by a wide margin. Values are served with every decimal WHO publishes. WHO revises these series, past years included, when new national reports or estimates come in, so values can change between retrievals.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

World Health Organization, data.who.int. Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026) [Indicator]. https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1 (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. No changes made to source values. WHO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

World Health Organization. (2026). Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026) (Countries by maternal mortality ratio, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1

MLA 9

Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026), Countries by maternal mortality ratio, 2017. World Health Organization, 18 May 2026, https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/maternal-mortality-ratio/countries?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

World Health Organization. 2026. Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026). Countries by maternal mortality ratio, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/maternal-mortality-ratio/countries?period=2017.

Harvard

World Health Organization (2026) Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026), Countries by maternal mortality ratio, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/maternal-mortality-ratio/countries?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{world_countries_by_maternal_mortality_2017,
  author = {{World Health Organization}},
  title = {{Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG\_0000000026): Countries by maternal mortality ratio, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/maternal-mortality-ratio/countries?period=2017. Publisher attribution: World Health Organization, data.who.int. Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG\_0000000026) [Indicator]. https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1 (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. No changes made to source values. WHO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - World Health Organization
TI  - Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026): Countries by maternal mortality ratio, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/18
PB  - World Health Organization
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/maternal-mortality-ratio/countries?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/maternal-mortality-ratio/countries?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: World Health Organization, data.who.int. Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026) [Indicator]. https://data.who.int/indicators/i/C071DCB/AC597B1 (Accessed on 2026-10-12). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. No changes made to source values. WHO does not endorse Invokely or this use of the data.
ER  -
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Questions

Which country has the highest maternal mortality ratio?

South Sudan, with 1,662 per 100,000 live births in 2017, according to World Health Organization.

Which country has the lowest maternal mortality ratio?

Cook Islands, with 0 per 100,000 live births in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: World Health Organization, Maternal mortality ratio (per 100 000 live births) (MDG_0000000026). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Maternal mortality ratio: other rankings

Countries: more rankings