99% The proportion of maternal deaths worldwide occurring in developing regions in 2005
Millennium
Development Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Target: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
Maternal mortality remains unacceptably high across much of the developing world. In 2005, more than 500,000 women died during pregnancy, childbirth or in the six weeks after delivery.
Ninety-nine per cent of these deaths occurred in the developing regions, with sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia accounting for 86 per cent of them.
Source: UNICEF, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008, New York, 2008.
