U.S. has highest maternal death rate among developed countries

U.S. women are more likely to die during childbirth than women in any other developed country, leading the U.S. to be ranked 33rd among 179 countries on the health and well-being of women and children.

Women in the U.S. face a 1-in-1,800 risk for maternal death, the worst among the developed nations surveyed in Save the Children's 16th annual State of the World's Mothers report (PDF).

The study, published with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Johnson & Johnson, relies on data from the World Health Organization's Center for Health Development's 2003-2011 demographic and health surveys.

The data is consistent with the numbers in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pregnancy mortality surveillance system. Pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. have risen from 7.2 per 100,000 live births in 1987 to 17.8 in 2009 and 2011, according to the CDC.

There are considerable racial disparities within the overall number, according to the CDC. The maternal death rate is 42.8 per 100,000 live births for black women, compared with 12.5 for white women and 17.3 rate for women of all other races. The top causes of U.S. pregnancy-related deaths in 2011 were cardiovascular disease, 15.1%; non-cardiovascular disease, 14.1%; infection or sepsis, 14%; and hemorrhage, 11.3%.

There have been global improvements in reducing infant mortality. Save the Children reports that 17,000 fewer children under 5 years old die each day compared with 1990. This reflects a reduction in the mortality rate for that age group to 46 deaths per 1,000 lives births in 2013 from 90 in 1996.

Norway finished first in Save the Children's overall ranking, and all of the top 10 countries were European except one: Australia at No. 9. The bottom 10 nations on the list were all from Africa;Somalia ranked last.

The U.S. ranking represents a slip from No. 31 last year. This year the U.S. ranked ninth in economic status and 16th in education but 61st on maternal health, 42nd on children's well-being and 89th in female political status. Women hold less than 20% of Congressional seats in the U.S., the report notes.

The report also analyzed differences in life expectancy among an individual nation's races and between its rural and urban and rich and poor populations. The largest gap in the U.S. was found in Chicago, where Asian-American women were found to live more than 14 years longer than black women.