While deaths in pregnancy and childbirth are an extremely rare event in wealthy countries, they are all too common in the poorest countries. Indeed, nearly two thirds of all maternal deaths in the world occur in just 10 countries.
Women in Sweden have a one in 13,600 chance of dying from maternal causes, and give birth to an average of 1.9 children in their lifetime
In Afghanistan a woman has a on in 49 chance of dying from maternal causes in her lifetime
India has the largest overall number of deaths in the world: 50,000 each year
In Indonesia poor women are four times as likely as rich women to die from maternal causes