EWENE worldwide

©UNICEF/Paul. A nurse provides essential newborn care right after delivery in the operating room at Thakurgaon District Hospital, Bangladesh, in September 2014.

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Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia are the regions experiencing the largest numbers of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths deaths.

Key figures

0 Countries

60% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths

Almost 0 %

of all maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle income countries in 2020

Nearly 0 Million

stillbirths can be avoided by 2030 – half of them in sub-Saharan Africa

When 194 World Health Organization Member States endorsed Every newborn: an action plan to end preventable deaths (ENAP) in 2014, and several countries adopted Strategies for Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) released a year later, (link to ‘About Us’ page), they signalled a global commitment to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths. These commitments are the more crucial in countries that carry the highest burden of these deaths:

Almost 95% of all maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle income countries in 2020. A 15-year old girl in a low-income country is 108 times more at risk during her lifetime to eventually die from a maternal cause than a 15-year old in a high income country.^[1]

In 2022, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 57% (of total under-5 deaths but and registered the highest neonatal mortality rate in the world at 27 deaths per 1000 live births, followed by central and southern Asia, with 21 deaths per 1000 live births^[2]

And if we do not reverse current trends, 9 million babies will be stillborn by 2030; nearly half of them in sub-Saharan Africa^[3]

The top 10 countries with the highest burden (table 1) account for 60% of global maternal deaths, stillbirths, and newborn deaths, and 51% of the world’s live births.

Table 1: Countries with the largest numbers of deaths in 2020

Country	Total maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths (thousands)	Share of total maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths	Share of total live births	Maternal deaths (thousands)	Stillbirths (thousands)	Neonatal deaths (thousands)
India	788	17%	17%	24	297	468
Nigeria	540	12%	6%	82	181	277
Pakistan	474	10%	5%	10	207	257
Democratic Republic of the Congo	241	5%	3%	22	113	106
Ethiopia	196	4%	3%	10	83	104
Bangladesh	121	3%	2%	4	66	51
China	108	2%	9%	3	63	42
Indonesia	103	2%	1%	9	38	49
Afghanistan	95	2%	1%	9	38	49
United Republic of Tanzania	94	2%	2%	5	43	46

Note: Total maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths were calculated from unrounded numbers.

Sources: Estimates for live births come from United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Population Prospects 2022 (https://population.un.org/wpp/). Estimates of maternal deaths were generated by the United Nations Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG) in 2023. Estimates of stillbirths and neonatal deaths were generated by the United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) in 2023.

Countries classified as fragile states^[4] continue to have significant burdens of preventable deaths among pregnant women, mothers and newborns, and stillbirths. In fact, 10 fragile countries alone^[5] account for 14% of global total of maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths. In these countries, the average annual rate of reduction (ARR) required to achieve the global targets is among the highest.

This disparity between the world’s regions reflects inequalities in access to quality health services and highlights the gap between rich and poor. ENAP EPMM, and now Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere’s approach is focused on equity, with the end goal of leaving no one behind and reaching universal health coverage. It prioritizes countries which are making slow progress in reducing maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths, as well as specific areas with a high burden of deaths within countries.

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE
Healthy Futures

EWENE worldwide

Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia are the regions experiencing the largest numbers of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths deaths.

Key figures

60% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths

of all maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle income countries in 2020

stillbirths can be avoided by 2030 – half of them in sub-Saharan Africa

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE
Healthy Futures

Get Involved

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Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE
Healthy Futures

Get Involved

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EWENE worldwide

Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia are the regions experiencing the largest numbers of maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths deaths.

Key figures

60% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths

of all maternal deaths occurred in low and lower middle income countries in 2020

stillbirths can be avoided by 2030 – half of them in sub-Saharan Africa

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE Healthy Futures

Get Involved

Follow us

Contact us

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE Healthy Futures

Get Involved

Follow us

Contact us

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE
Healthy Futures

Every Woman Every Newborn EverywherE
Healthy Futures