Welcome to the safest time to give birth in human history — The fall in maternal mortality has saved millions of mothers
The loss of a mother or a child during pregnancy or birth is a heartbreaking family tragedy, one that has been with humanity since the dawn of our species. Prior to the 20th century, pregnancy, childbirth, and post-birth recovery were among the times of greatest danger for all women. The risk was compounded significantly by global fertility rates, which remained very high for much of human history. The average American woman alive in 1820 had roughly 6.6 children, while the global average was 5.75. Every pregnancy was a life-or-death gamble, and the outcome for mother and child was too frequently grim.
Some of the oldest reliable records for maternal mortality come from Sweden, and they show a rate of 1,205 mothers lost for every 100,000 live births in 1758. That figure is staggering, and it is highly representative of the global mortality rate at that time. (To put that figure into perspective, the maternal mortality rate today in Sweden is 7 per 100,000, a decrease of 99.4%.) Maternal mortality rates remained extremely high throughout the next two and a half centuries.
The loss of a mother or a child during pregnancy or birth is a heartbreaking family tragedy, one that has been with humanity since the dawn of our species. Prior to the 20th century, pregnancy, childbirth, and post-birth recovery were among the times of greatest danger for all women. The risk was compounded significantly by global fertility rates, which remained very high for much of human history. The average American woman alive in 1820 had roughly 6.6 children, while the global average was 5.75. Every pregnancy was a life-or-death gamble, and the outcome for mother and child was too frequently grim.
