US soldiers: Blackwater attacked fleeing Iraqi civilian

October 13, 2007
U.S. maternal death rate higher than Europe's

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has a sharply higher rate of women dying during or
just after pregnancy than European countries, even some relatively poor countries such as
Macedonia and Bosnia, according to the first estimates in five years on maternal deaths
worldwide.

The report released by various United Nations agencies and the World Bank on Friday shows that
Ireland has the lowest rate of deaths, while several African countries have the worst.

The United States has a far higher death rate than the European average, the report shows, with
one in 4,800 U.S. women dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth, the same as Belarus
and just slightly better than Serbia's rate of one in 4,500.