Table 1.

Number of deaths, percentual decrease and contribution to maternal direct obstetric deaths in 1990 and 2017 by cause of death. Maternal direct obstetrics deaths.^a Global. 1990–2017. (n = 186). Estimated based on the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Maternal Health Atlas. Trends 1990–2017.(1)

Cause of the death	Number of deaths		Percentual decrease	Contribution to maternal direct obstetrics deaths (%)
	1990	2017		1990	2017
Maternal Haemorrhage	128,097	38,542	70.0	44.6	25.0
Sepsis and other maternal infections	38,398	21,230	44.7	13.4	13.7
Hypertensive disorders	35,921	29,374	18.2	12.5	19.0
Obstructed labour & uterine rupture	21,453	12,976	23.6	7.5	8.4
Abortion & miscarriage	26,015	17,440	33.0	9.7	11.3
Ectopic pregnancy	13,417	10,201	24.0	4.7	6.6
Other maternal disorders	23,688	24,828	––-	8.9	16.1
Total number of maternal direct obstetrics deaths	286,989	154,591	49.2		100.1

^aDirect obstetric deaths (or direct maternal deaths) are those “resulting from obstetric complications of the pregnant state (pregnancy, labour and puerperium), and from interventions, omissions, incorrect treatment, or from a chain of events resulting from any of the above