North's maternal mortality rate 17 times higher than South Korea: Report
Published: 11 Apr. 2025, 11:08
Updated: 11 Apr. 2025, 11:53
![Nurses carry triplets born in Pyongyang in this photo released by the Rodong Sinmun on Jan. 12. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/04/11/e6062309-a583-4aa1-972c-1208abf49270.jpg)
Nurses carry triplets born in Pyongyang in this photo released by the Rodong Sinmun on Jan. 12. [NEWS1]
North Korea's maternal mortality rate was estimated at 67 per 100,000 live births in 2023, a number dramatically lower than in 2000 but nearly 17 times higher than South Korea's figure, a report showed Friday.
The figures were released in a recent report on maternal mortality estimates, jointly published by the World Health Organization, Unicef, the World Bank Group and other international organizations.
The report defines maternal mortality as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of a pregnancy.
North Korea's maternal mortality rate has been on a gradual decline since reaching 129 in 2000, around the time the country fell into a severe famine following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The figure came down to 78 in 2005, 72 in 2015, 66 in 2020 and 67 in 2023, but the latest rate is still about 17 times higher than South Korea's corresponding rate of 4, the report showed.
The global average maternal mortality rate in 2023 was estimated at 197, and the United Nations aims to reduce it to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2023.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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