Radically rising safety of childbirth

For most of human history, giving birth was the single most life-threatening thing a woman could do. As late as the early 20^th century, some estimates of maternal mortality in the United States ran as high as 1 in every 100 births – with all of the ripples of tragedy and hardship that can imply.

That changed radically for the better in the mid-20^th century, especially in the most developed parts of the world, where the rate of women dying in childbirth has fallen as much as 100-fold.  The rate has slipped up somewhat in the US, almost uniquely, since 2000, but remains in the same much lower order of magnitude. Worldwide, just since 1985, maternally mortality globally has come down an additional 57 percent.

That’s an incredible amount of heartache averted.

Sources: Our World in Data, World Health Organization