Data for the late 1990s and for 2000-2001 show that just over 70% of women worldwide have at least one antenatal visit with a skilled provider during pregnancy. In the industrialized countries coverage is extremely high, with 98% of women having at least one visit. In the developing world, antenatal care use is around 68% (data are not available for China), but this indicates considerable success for programmes aimed at making antenatal care available.

The region of the world with the lowest levels of use is South Asia, where only 54% of pregnant women have at least one antenatal care visit. In sub-Saharan Africa, generally the region with the lowest levels of health care use, fully 68% of women report at least one antenatal visit. The levels in the remaining regions of the world range from 82% to 86%.