India sees most maternal deaths: UN

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) India carried the biggest burden of maternal deaths globally, according to a UN report.

Seventeen percent or nearly 50,000 of the 2.89 lakh women who died as a result of complications due to pregnancy or childbearing in 2013 were in India, the report said.

The report said that 10 countries led by India carry most of the burden at 60 percent of the entire deaths, according to an official release Wednesday.

While Nigeria recorded 40,000 deaths, Democratic Republic of the Congo had 21,000, Ethiopia 13 000, Indonesia 8,800 and Pakistan 7,900.

However, in some good news, the new UN data shows a 45 percent reduction in maternal deaths since 1990. An estimated 289,000 women died in 2013 due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, down from 523,000 in 1990.

The report shows that 11 countries that had high levels of maternal mortality in 1990, including Bhutan, Cambodia, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Maldives, Nepal, Romania, Rwanda and Timor-Leste have already reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of a 75 percent reduction in maternal mortality.

Sub-Saharan Africa is still the riskiest region in the world for dying of complications in pregnancy and childbirth, it added.