Worldwide fewer women dying in childbirth, study says

[steven johnson]

Here is a demographic trend that is going to have huge impact on world population trends.

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 13, 2010; 6:58 PM

The rate differs greatly between countries and regions, with the best- and worst-performing nations differing by a factor of about 400, according to a study in the Lancet, a European medical journal.

The global rate in 2008 was 251 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, according to a research team led by Christopher J.L. Murray at the University of Washington. The highest rate was in Afghanistan (1,575) and the lowest in Italy (4). The United States was 17, Canada 7 and Mexico 52.

More than half of all maternal deaths (about 343,000 in 2008) occurred in only six countries, researchers found: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/13/AR2010041303989.html